Festival of Lights

As you know if you've been reading this blog for a while, the Obnoxious family observes some of the aspects of Hanukkah every year.

Just as non-Christians can celebrate the hope, light, life, love, peace, and goodwill of Christmastime without being believers, I would think that non-Jews can celebrate parts of Hanukkah without being believers (though I may be wrong, but so far, no Jews have told me otherwise). Especially since, unlike Christmas, Hanukkah isn't actually a major holiday. Or so I hear. Anyway, religiously speaking, we're not Jewish, so we always try to keep our celebration respectful and appropriate i.e. not do anything religious that would be a mockery to those who actually practice Judaism.

The big differences between Hanukkah last year and Hanukkah this year were a) we all bought matching Hanukkah sweaters earlier this year and b) Mr. Little Sister is now an official part of the family.

Last year, Mr. Little Sister got waaaaay into Hanukkah. He told Little Sister that he wants to celebrate it with their future children and suggested buying a menorah. Little Sister talked him out of the menorah idea (re: celebrating Hanukkah in a respectful and non-religious way), but that hasn't kept him from embracing his new Jewish heritage. He was very excited for Hanukkah this year. He and Little Sister bought a chocolate dreidel at some kind of arts festival they attended a few weeks ago, and he also picked out a dessert called "jujus" for the party "because we're Jew-Jews!"

Rosebud and Mr. Rosebud also came to the party last year and also got way into it, so they requested to be invited this year. Plus Little Brother got way into challah bread last year, and he has since mastered delicious homemade challah.

Alongside the challah, we enjoyed brisket, latkes, applesauce, and a chocolate bundt cake that wasn't bad for a bundt cake. We did not enjoy the jujus as they were kind of awful. We also played dreidel for prizes: caramels, chocolates, plastic instruments left over from the year before, sticky dinosaurs, and Star Wars and Christmas Peanuts pencils. Then Little Brother led us in some Jewish dances that he choreographed on the spot and made us listen to his favorite Jewish song, "Hava Nagila," over and over.

So it was a pretty good time. While it made me miss Older Sister and Baby Sister, it made me incredibly grateful for a wonderful family with a strong heritage. And I can't wait until we're all together for Christmas! (Older Sister will be here, and we'll be able to talk with Baby Sister on Skype.)