What's that feeling you get each day of Hanukkah, around about mid-morning, when you're thinking of the festivities planned for that night, and the friends and family you'll see, and the gifts you'll give, and the tales you'll tell?
It's pure heart-deep anticipation, an emotion that's beautiful in pretty much every case, but, come the Festival of Lights, it grows even more meaningful. Anticipating the candle-lighting of the night, and all that it symbolizes, binds us to each other and time itself, both past and future.
Anticipation is running high for one of Southern California's sweetest December to-dos, a Skirball Cultural Center celebration that's very much about A) exploring Hanukkah's stories, layers, and love and B) some lively music and dance and art-makery and more.
It's the Hanukkah Family Festival, and it unfolds over a happy few hours on Sunday, Dec. 13.
The Music and Dance slate is a rich one, with several acts set to strum from late morning through to 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Noah Shalom and Brendan Brandt, Bazaar Ensemble, S.H.I.N.E. Mawusi, and Lisa Loeb will be delivering the traditional tunes, gorgeous movement, and the kind of performances that serve as the connective tissue between the audience and the occasion.
Crafts and art-focused activities, the telling of stories, and more awesome goings-on shall go on throughout the afternoon. And afternoon, by the by, that will be made even sweeter by a visit to some of the Skirball's exhibits, like Visions and Values, which features a host of exquisite menorahs.
And latkes and sufganiyot -- helloooo, jelly doughnuts -- are some of the holiday treats on the menu at Zeidler's Café.
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Tickets? They're ten dollars, though Noah's Ark, a must-see during your fest time, is a separate admission. Get started here, and get that anticipation stoked. Isn't that one of the delights of a delight-laden Hanukkah? The waiting and hoping and planning ahead of the next gathering, the next story, the next latke.
