I grew up celebrating Hanukah, I’ve always been lucky to have friends and family who celebrate other faiths and traditions. We enjoy lighting our menorah, spinning the dreidel and eating fried foods like latkes and donuts in our own home. We also have fun at my best friend’s house every Christmas Eve listening to carols, eating party fare and exchanging presents. Like me, my kids grew up having the privilege of seeing, and respecting, many different traditions.
While Hanukah is not one of the major Jewish holidays, celebrating it as a family is always a delight. The menorah, a nine-candle holder, is used to hold the burning candles; we light one for each of the eight nights and add one more the next until the entire candelabra is burning bright. The ninth candle, the Shammas, is used to light all of the other candles. I’ve always given my kids eight presents each and even now, as adults, they still get a present for each night – some may be as small as a scratch off lottery ticket. The most beautiful aspect of all though is watching my daughter and her husband, and my son and his girlfriend, standing around the table as their father chants the prayers and kindles each light; even with everyone’s busy schedule we still manage to have at least of the eight nights together.
By the way, I often use the all-inclusive “Happy Holidays” greeting. While I am never offended by specific holiday greetings such as Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukah, I don’t always know what an individual celebrates. In December alone, some of the holidays observed are: Ashura, Las Posadas, Bodhi, Hanukkah, Festivus, Yule, Santa Lucia Day, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Eve…whew. And that doesn’t even begin to include January’s festivals.
I included a Christmas celebration in my novel Courage of the Heart, it starts Christmas Eve with an Episcopalian church service and follows through with the family celebration and dinner on Christmas Day. I will give away a .PDF copy of Courage of the Heart to one person who shares a favorite holiday tradition in the comments below – please be sure to include your email as well. The winner will be announced no later than midnight on December 19th.
Whatever you do celebrate, I hope you have a holiday that fills your heart with joy.
9 comments
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Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Shadow
Thank you! Wonderful post! Hope you have a wonderful christmas! Happy holidays!
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com
Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Fedora
How lovely, Chelle! We don’t have too many traditions, but we save the gift opening for Christmas morning after breakfast (usually waffles) and a re-reading of the original Christmas story 🙂 Wishing you a season of warm celebrating!
f dot chen at comcast dot net
Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 3:53 pm
bakinstuff
Hi :0)My favorite tradition is trekking through a tree farm, picking out a tree and chopping it down together. ❤ Rain, sunshine or snow…we do it every year.
Merry Christmas and I loved your stop on our blog hop ❤
bakinstuff@yahoo.com
Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 10:19 am
Lisa
I guess the only tradition we have is driving through the neighborhood to look at all the decorated houses. Happy holidays
Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 1:55 am
Eva P.
It’s great to expose kids to many different backgrounds, they get to respect others differences 🙂 Thanks for being part of the Hop!
Saturday, December 17, 2011 at 11:31 pm
vampedchik
Thanks so much!
-Amber
goodblinknpark@yahoo.com
Saturday, December 17, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Megan
Hopping right along! Happy Holidays!
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 11:59 pm
sweetpea122
For the last twenty-five years, my family goes to my mom’s house the night before Christmas and decorate the tree. After the kids are put to bed (no small feat there), the parents wrap gifts and have some strong eggnog. It’s relaxing and we don’t have to worry about driving home that night. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Melinda
Great post, Chelle. One of my wonderful teacher friends, who happens to be Jewish, invites me to come to her second grade class and help cook latkes every year at this time. It’s one of my favorite activities because I love the way she incorporates everyone’s beliefs into her classroom curriculum.