Photo via @hanukkahhouse on Instagram
Hanukkah House Drive Thru with PJ Library
Photo via @hanukkahhouse on Instagram
If you’ve never seen the famous Hanukkah House, there’s no better time to check it out than Thursday, Dec. 15 at the Hanukkah House Drive Thru. The free event is hosted by Camp Young Judaea, Greene Family Camp and PJ Library, a program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, which provides Jewish-themed books and activities for children. Beginning at 5:30pm, registered guests are invited to drive by the house and enjoy its elaborate holiday lights and awesome Hanukkah yard decorations and partake in some milk and cookies. Throughout the evening, PJ Library will be collecting new toiletry items for Interfaith Ministries Refugee Services, so consider making a donation.
Holiday Story Time at Brazos Bookstore
Photo by Julie Soefer for Visit Houston
At 10:30am on Dec. 17, the day before Hanukkah and the traditional lighting of the menorah, parents and their children are invited to Holiday Story Time at Brazos Bookstore. The in-store reading includes The Eight Knights of Hanukkah, which tells the story eight young knights who are called upon to put a stop Dreadful, a cranky dragon bent of ruining Hanukkah, and Hanukkah Hamster, the tale of a lonely cab driver who unexpectedly finds and adopts a hamster left behind in his cab, just in time for his Hanukkah observance.
Menorah Lighting at City Hall
City Hall (photo by Lance Childers for Houston First)
On Sunday, Dec. 18, at 5:15pm, the City of Houston marks the first night and the first light of Hanukkah with the 27th Annual Menorah Lighting at Houston City Hall. The free event includes sufganiyot (oil-cooked jelly doughnuts, which along with latkes are a traditional Hanukkah treat), dreidels, Hanukkah gelt (chocolate coins), and other gifts for children.
Sensory-Sensitive Hannukah
Sensory-sensitive events are designed for people living with diagnoses, disorders or disabilities that include increased sensitivity, such as a child with autism who might find the sound of an average-size holiday event overwhelming, and even frightening. With this population in mind, on Sunday, Dec. 18, beginning at 2pm, Congregation Beth Yeshurun will host a Sensory-Sensitive Hanukkah Event for congregants of all ages with visual, auditory or social sensitivities or disabilities. The celebration includes cookie decorating, latkes, crafts, a Hanukkah photo booth, and an unplugged Hanukkah sing-along.
Chanukah in the Snow
Sufganiyot (photo by Elisheva Goha)
On Dec. 18 beginning at 4:30pm at Martin Debrovner Park, Chabad of Uptown hosts “Chanukah in the Snow.” The all-ages menorah-lighting event will have plenty of doughnuts and latkes, an array of Chanukah crafts, a dreidel prize wheel, and, according to our sources, 10,000 pounds of snow. So bundle up — or at least bring your mittens. This is a free event, but RSVP is required.
Young Jewish Professionals' Chanukah Fire and Snow
In the days (and nights) after the first light of the menorah is lit, the celebrations around town will continue. On Dec. 20, beginning at 7:30pm, Young Jewish Professionals Houston will host a sophisticated Chanukah party geared to twenty- and thirtysomething professionals. The classy event will be a stylish party “around the fire in snow,” with gelt s’mores, hot cocoa, drinks, music, a dinner buffet, and sufganiyot and latkes for dessert.
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The Beach Club at Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, next door to the USS Yorktown
It’s serious about its coastal Southerness, from the Colonial-era baby blue paint and chunky millwork that pervades the gracious and sprawling space — the whole thing feels a bit like an excellent country club at which you sip sweet tea with purpose and feel important — to the seersucker robes in the guestrooms. There’s maritime-inspired art by local artists in every vividly colorful room, and balconies overlooking the large pool. And, beyond that, the marina and a network of piers and boardwalks, and grassy, bird-beloved marshland that meets Charleston Harbor like a scene from a nature painting.
The grilled salmon at the hotel’s Fish House comes with ratatouille and watercress puree, and the suggested pairing for the Lowcountry classic Shrimp and Grits, which here adds in andouille and sweet peppers, is an Argentine Malbec. Golden sunlight bounces off the harbor and floods in at the magic hour. Above the restaurant is the open-air Bridge Bar with expansive views.
The hotel also offers sailing lessons, taught by faculty from the champion College of Charleston sailing team. Unique holiday-time happenings include Oysters on the Point, at which buckets of steamed oysters go for $13 on some Saturdays and come with a side of live music. The resort also sets up a large ice-skating rink, open till February.
Of course, there’s tons to do off property in the hip and historic Charleston area, including the USS Yorktown, a huge WWII aircraft carrier docked right next door to the hotel and open for tours — and Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began, on a tiny island you can see from The Beach Club. And then there’s simply tooling around Charleston, which is easy to get to by water taxi. The ride alone is an adventure: You’ve never seen so many dolphins putting on a show.
A stroll through the city is enchanting, with its leafy cobblestone streets lined with palmettos — not palms, thankyouverymuch — and French colonial-era homes with long piazza porches on the side. It feels like the best of NOLA’s French Quarter and antebellum Natchez combined, with a fresh coat of paint, lots of shade from Live Oaks and curiously not infrequent sightings of hunky hipsters with tat sleeves and man buns. If you’re hungry after a morning walkabout, Miller’s All Day has biscuit sandwiches with fried chicken, pepper jam and the city’s favorite spread, pimento cheese; at most restaurants, the stuff seems to show up on pretty much everything except the peanut butter pie.
And we’re definitely not complaining.
A glimpse of old Charleston at Christmas
Seersucker robes at The Beach Club
A Christmas tree at The Beach Club