Hanukkah House: Celebrating the Festival of Lights

The Grosman family love decorating their home for Hanukkah. Pictured: Philip and Dana with kids Sophie, Matthew and Ellie.

This time of year, the Grosman family’s house is hard to miss. To celebrate Hanukkah – the Festival of Lights – they light up the outside of their Bellaire-area home and yard with lights, music and decorations. 

Philip Grosman said his first memory of putting up Hanukkah decorations was with his father, Eddie, in the 1980s. At that time, Hanukkah decorations weren’t available to purchase in the stores, he said. So his father would string lights around the bricks to create a Star of David and his mother, Sharon, made each family a dreidel “stocking” out of felt. Each year, the decorations grew and grew. 

The Grosman family decorates their house for Hanukkah and tries to make the decorations bigger and better each year. 

Once Philip became a homeowner, the tradition continued. He started putting up lights and added more strands year after year. At the end of each holiday season, he would drive around to various stores to stock up on half-priced blue and white lights. He made his own wooden, hand-painted decorations. As years passed, he switched to LED lights and kept adding decorations to the yard such as dreidels and a menorah.

“I always try to out-do myself from the previous year,” he said. His wife Dana recently suggested incorporating music to accompany the lights. Philip’s friend, Grant Marblestone, helped install a button in their yard, which activates Hanukkah songs that sync with the lights.

The Grosman family (from left) Sophie, Philip, Ellie, Dana and Matthew work together to light up their home for Hanukkah.

 

Kids Sophie, age 9, Matthew, 7, and Ellie, 2, love helping with the process. 

Philip says providing the neighborhood with a beautiful Hanukkah display is rewarding, and invites all to swing by the 5000 block of Carew Street to check it out after sundown. 

“I’m already brainstorming what to add next year!” he said.  

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