i dont celebrate christmas, but i do celebrate the 8 days of chanukka. each evening we light the candles and sing our prayers together as a family.
when i was a child, we would receive 1 gift for every night. i remember it being so exciting, maybe even more so than on my birthday.
i also have some very fond memories of picking out gifts for my parents. i wanted to make them the happiest and surprised as possible. i couldnt wait to watch them open them and to hear them rave about how much they loved what i had given them…even if it were just some clay heart paper weight i made in arts and crafts in school
how do you celebrate with your children? and with each other as well? do you put up a tree together, decorate it together? string popped corn, use tinsel, cristal balls, home made decorations? do you pile gifts up under the tree? do you hang stockings?
We do celebrate Hanukkah, but there is a little wrinkle. Our tradition for any celebration is that the date if the celebration will be one when we are home and all four of us are there. So we tend to celebrate mostly later than others. For instance, this year Hanukkah starts Dec 28 for us, a few weeks later that for most others.
When I was growing up we were quite poor, and never got more than a gift or two. So, the tradition we have at home is opposite. We exchange gifts every day for 8 days, and I spend the year collecting many mostly small gifts for everyone, so that all can have the pleasure to open many surprises. However, we tend to look at experiences as more valuable than possessions, and many of our more significant gifts are experiences. This year, the big “thing” for Hanukkah is the present visit to French speaking Canada, along with an exploration of local foods!
In the same way as I try to give my kids a different celebration experience from what I had, my older boy has already told me he will not give a million small gifts to his kids when he has a family…
