Hanukkah

The best present you can give this holiday season is spending time together with family, friends and all those you love. We've collected some of our favorite seasonal recipes here to help you celebrate together, plus 10 holiday tips to help make every get-together a time to remember.

When stores begin playing Christmas carols the day after Thanksgiving, I get as worked up as my children. I can’t help myself. I love the holiday season. I love to decorate our tree and fill our house with the smell of Douglas Fir. I love an excuse to gather with friends in festive clothes, drinking eggnog and singing Christmas carols. I even love the frenetic shopping, the angst of finding just the right present for each child. I love everything about the holiday season except the stress of cramming too many activities in such a short time.

Cooking for Hanukkah can be a challenge because the holiday lasts eight nights. Competing against the excitement of Christmas would be tricky enough for one night, but maintaining the excitement for an entire week and a day is something of a miracle. It is a fitting challenge considering that Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, commemorates the miracle of an oil lamp burning in a sacred Jerusalem temple for 8 days with only enough oil for one night.