The eight days of Hanukkah, which come to a close today, are a busy and fun time for the De La Vega family of Orleans.

Melissa and Marcus De La Vega and the couple’s two oldest children, Ben, 11, and Rebecca, 8, light a candle each evening on the special nine-branched menorah, each successive candle lit from the central one. Daughter Maggie, at just 14 months old, joins the rest of the kids in wearing colorful Hanukkah pajamas, which mom Melissa says is a special treat – and photo op – each year for the family.

Hanukkah, or The Festival of Lights, is one of the other winter holidays celebrated in addition to Christmas. Winter Solstice, marking the longest night of the year and the return to longer days, is another cold-weather celebration.

The eight-day commemoration harks back to the second century BCE, when the Second Temple of Jerusalem was rededicated to God after nearly being lost to its enemies, the Maccabees. It is told that a temple lamp containing only enough oil for one day miraculously burned for eight.