oh Hanukkah
The holidays are layered thickly this time of year! Besides Advent and Solsticetide, it's also Hanukkah of course, and we've had a few chances to observe it so far... though not as many as I would have liked! We started the holiday off in fine fashion celebrating at Leah's parents' on Monday, the second night (not the first because Sunday was entirely taken up with opera practice). They put on a good party, with lots of great food, pre-bagged pennies for dreidel, a gelt hunt (once Amazon delivered the gelt halfway through the evening), and, of course, lots of presents for the boys! Sure, some of those presents preempted things we're giving them for Christmas in a few days, which is a mite annoying... but you can never have too many Legos or stuffed animals, right?!
lighting with Grandma
Tuesday night we dined with friends, but Wednesday we were back home from the solstice party in time to light our menorah for the first time. We didn't have brisket or noodle kugel like on Monday, but you can bet there were latkes! And I downed my fair share despite still being stuffed from solstice gluttony; this was a whole new holiday!
the essentials of the celebration