Chanukah (Hanukkah) Wishes

[rendean]

Wishes for a Happy Hanukkah  to all of our  forum members who celebrate this festive holiday. May the lights of the season brighten your lives!

Ren

[michelleric]

Thanks for the thread Ren and the Chanukah wishes!

Tonight is the 4th night of Chanukah for us. We light the lights every night, have potato pancakes (Latkas) with applesauce and gamble with the dreidel game.

I have never really understand the whole gambling thing, but we have fun. They open a present and then we sit around the fireplace and all is quiet. (That part is made up, just my dream. With 4 young boys it really is never quiet!)

We go to a Chanukah party or 2 and just enjoy the season.

Next Sunday we are off to deliver a few MS holiday bags to those less fortunate then us, in the nursing homes. There are 2 men and 2 women with MS on the list for us.

So, that it is for now. The holiday season is less bright for us this year, with all the losses we have had, but the "show must go on", so they say.

Saw Wicked last night, it was FANTASTIC!

Michelle

[Quixotic1]

Ren - Thank you for this thread!  Q

[Quixotic1]

Thanks, Julie, that is so wonderful about the help out with the shelter.  I am moved.

My family's tradition goes back to when I was young.  We always tried to make most of our gifts.  On the weekends before Christmas, the four of us would gather in the "rec room" in the basement and sew, knit, embroider, woodwork, and other wise fashion gifts for everyone, including grandparents.  We would play Christmas music and sing carols.  All of our cards were handmade.

Also another fun one was for my dad who grew up very poor and rarely got  a gift other than a new pair of overalls.  He always counted the number of gifts under the tree and would be soo thankful that he could provide in that way for his family.  So we would wrap our gifts so that they made the largest number.  One box would lead to searching for another gift which would lead to clues to go to the garage or a closet where another gift was to be unwrapped.  Where a gift had different parts, each would be wrapped separately.  Socks would be separated into two gifts.  Some years we had more than a hundred packages spilling out around the room and my dad would count them every day.  We would even wrap silly things like a can of corn and promise to make cornbread.  Or we would give coupons that could be redeemed for a hour of ironing or weedpulling or a foot massage.

As we grew up and a member was far away, we would open the gifts with the away ones on speakerphone, opening one at a time - each taking the time to describe and ooh and awe.  Sometimes these calls last 3 hours!  The laughter and mayhem is wonderful.

So, not altruistic, but such a joy and a twinkle in my dad's eyes.  We still try to make gifts when we can.  My sister, niece and I succeed, if only to make a batch of candy or knit a beanie, but it is still a wonderful part.  The memories are priceless.

Quix

[Sarahsmom46]

Thanks for posting the Hannukah greeting.  It is a nice rememberance, Hannukah, and so much fun especially for kids.  My kids are all grown up now, but I still light the menorah and make potato latkes.  But at this point in my life my favorite part is eating jelly donuts. :)!!  

If anyone else is out there celebrating Hannukah or even Christmas and Kwanza, it would be interesting to hear what your traditions are in your family for Hannukah.  As for my family when the kids were young, we used to spend the week doing good deeds from helping deliver food to the elderly to working in a soup kitchen for a day.  Our annual tradition, even to this day, is to run a homeless shelter, as a community, on Christmas Day so the staff can have this day with their families.  That is how we give back to our community remembering that we have been blessed with what we needed in ourlives over the past year.

Julie

[HVAC]

Happy Hanukkah.

Alex