Hannukah and Christmas

This evening, the Crown Center is providing a Hannukah dinner.  I have no idea how many signed up to eat tonight, but I'm one of them.  It's also open to the community, so I expect we'll have a large crowd.  I plan to get down there early, so I can sit with friends.  Here's the menu:

• Apricot Chicken
• Latkes
• Green Beans
• Tzimmes
• Miniature Jelly Donuts

I came across the brilliant design above on Facebook, showing Merry Christmas with a star on top of a tree and ― when the design is flipped ― Happy Hannukah with the lighted candles for the eight days.  What about that ninth candle in the middle?

During Hannukah, on each of the eight nights, a candle is lit in a special menorah (candelabra) called a "hanukkiyah."  There is a special ninth candle called the "shammash" or servant candle, which is used to light the other candles.

NOTE:  I've tried to be consistent, using "Hannukah" in this blog post because that's what's in the illustration at the top.  The Crown Center calls tonight's meal a "Chanukah Dinner."  When I looked up information about the nine candles, it said "Hanukkah."  There are many spellings, but it's all about the Jewish holiday which began this year "in the evening of Sunday, December 2 and ends in the evening of Monday, December 10."  Learn more from Wikipedia, which shows this Hanuka Memorah by Gil Dekel, 2014.