The Best of 2016 - Part I

1. Amitai and Gavriel  2. Made with Love  3. Gadi  4. Eden  5. Nadav  6. Daniel  7. Jack  8. 18 Years  9. Hanan  10. Richard

This year Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, is on Christmas. The first night (Jewish holidays begin at sunset) of the festival fell on Christmas Eve and the first day landed on Christmas Day. Chanukah celebrates the victory of the Maccabee brothers' rebel army over Greek King Antiochus IV during the 2nd century B.C. and the miracle that is said to have occurred when a small quantity of oil lasted for eight days in the rededicated Second Temple. You can read more about the holiday in my blog post here. The first night of Chanukah last fell on Christmas Day in 2005, but Chanukah has overlapped with Christmas or Christmas Eve as recently as 2011 and 2014. So, happy holidays to those of us celebrating Chanukah or Christmas, and best wishes from Israel! Thank you for all the support you have given me and my blogging adventure through another year.

1. Amy's Album  2. Tomer's Album  3. Sam's Album  4. Ethan's Album  5. Yael's Album  6. Elisha's Album  7. Avital's Album  8. Gilad's Album  9. Yonatan's Album  10. Guy's Album

As is common at this time of the year, I thought it would be fun to collect together some of my personal favourites from this past year and show them to you once again. 2016 has been a prolific year for me. I have made customised cards, albums and invitation designs for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, new babies and more. A big thank you to those of you who have commented, liked, shared and bought what you've seen on my blog. Have you spotted your card or album amongst the collections above?
Of course, the biggest thing for my family this year was our youngest son's Bar Mitzvah and you can see all the paper goodies that I made for the event here, as well as the few "tasters" below.

I have also visited some interesting places in Israel, which I have shared with you as an occasional travel post. I'm saving my top 10 favourite places for another time. I have enjoyed composing each and every one of my blog posts, and hope you will continue to visit and enjoy them too in 2017, as I share the coming year's papercut designs and a few more of my adventures in Israel.

Don't forget that you can subscribe to my blog, and follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Oh, and please pop by my shop now and then to see what is new there.
Wishing you a wonderful, happy and colourful Chanukah, Christmas and New Year, and a safe and exciting start to 2017!

* This post has been shared on Tuesdays with a Twist, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Wednesday around the World, Wow Us Wednesdays, Wordless Wednesday, Seasons, Little Things Thursday, Share Your Cup Thursday and Happiness Is Homemade.