Hanukkah Party Swirls and Twirls

The party opened to music and ended in a rolling rubber barrel.

In between, children spun dreidels, danced to deejay tunes and raced over the JCC carpet.

More than 100 families, many of them moms and their children, celebrated the Festival of Lights Thursday at the JCC Hanukkah Party.

The lounge swirled with color.

DJ Robbie (Mindel) Rock played songs including Drift Away, Dynamite and Hey Soul Sister.

Jeremy Sorkin, 4, and other children tore around the room in bright paper headdresses they made topped by paper cutout candles.

Moms chased laughing toddlers.

Toddlers chased laughing moms.

Seven-year-old Gillian Jacobs was happy just sitting in Marla Mindel's lap, playing a game.

Her favorite part of the evening?

"Eating," she said. 

Marla Mindel came to the JCC as a child. Now she works there.

The center's Hanukkah party hasn't changed since she was a kid, she said.

"It's a feel-good night," she said. "The (children) run around — it's organized chaos."

Fueling all that good energy was traditional fare — latkes.

Mom Nonna Drucker enjoyed the evening with her son Ilan, 3.

He enjoyed eating his latke and hanging decorations, she said.

Nonna came to the United States from Russia when she was 10.

Hanukkah was new to her because no one she knew celebrated the holiday in Russia.

Hanukkah does not start for five days but the Thursday's party was a warm up for the main event.

Eric Boyd and Dylan Kerble twirled dreidels in the lobby under the menorah.

The winner scooped up gelt, chocolate coins in gold wrappers.

There's a trick to making the dreidel spin, said Dylan.

"Well, you have to hold it like this and do it like that," she said, holding a dreidel.

The gym, a short walk from the lobby, had more room for the kids to move.

Four or five children rolled a colorful rubber barrel with a laughing child tucked inside.

Kids bounced balls and raced plastic cars over the floor.

The JCC will celebrate Hanukkah with candle-lighting and stories, said JCC Spokeswoman Leigh Blander.

The celebration starts on Dec. 20, at sunset.

Each night brings a new light and new story.

Thursday's story was a festive one made of latkes, running and laughter.