menorah lighting: link-happy shiksa version

Sunday evening, we headed downtown for the menorah lighting on the second night of Hanukkah.  We were pleasantly surprised to hear that the city council and the mayor have approved the menorah for the entire 8 nights.  This is a big step forward for our city.  So, we gathered in the park by the river with the large menorah and a huge Christmas tree.  Beautiful sign of togetherness.

They had a guy there doing some juggling to entertain the kids as we waited for darkness.  Our kids darted through the small crowd to sit right down in front with the other kids.  Then the guy brought out the huge knives to juggle.  Gee, glad Carl and Gretchen were right in front.  In the guy's defense - he did ask the kids to step back quite a bit... and he did have all 10 fingers still.

Then, the rabbi explained to us that this was a symbolic lighting because a menorah must be lit in the home and with open flames, either candles or oil, to fulfill the mitzvah.  He omitted God's name from the blessing for this reason.  Then, they lit the bulbs.

Mrs. So-and-So was thanked for making the doughnuts and we were invited to nosh.  We ran into the new little girl in the kids' class.  Her family is in the process of moving here from Colorado.  So, the kids bopped off to the doughnut table.  Carl said "no thank you" but Gretchen tried a doughnut and decided she did not like it.  Foolish child.  Then, it turns out I got Carl to take a bite and he had 2-3 bites.  Still, I was forced to finish it for them.  Mmmm.  Gretchen's friend picked up a plastic dreidel and then returned to the table to pick up one for Gretchen as well.  Gretchen grabbed a bag of gelt, too, but again, Carl said "no thank you".

Meanwhile, the dancing had begun.  Gretchen and her friend danced with the girls.  She returned shortly after I snapped this photo.  Not her thing, I guess.

Apparently, the music got to be more than Carl could resist, because even though he said earlier he did not want to, he bounded off to dance with the men.

 I missed how this actually happened, but it was fast.  This guy must be very strong!  Carl is not a light dude. He also is not a child who likes to be raised above your head.  He and Gretchen never have been.  They were not toss-em-in-the-air babies.  They both get very panicky when you even try to put them on your shoulders.  So, it was very cool watching Carl dancing on this man's shoulders while laughing and enjoying himself so much.

When he returned to me he exclaimed, "I was way too high!"

We headed home since doughnuts and chocolate coins were probably not a really healthy dinner.  It was late, so I decided to let the kids open the biggest present in their piles.  I actually had 8 different wrapping papers this season, so each day has 2 gifts that are either identical, or meant to coordinate that are easy for them to pick out nightly.  So, on the first night, I had 4 Webkinz animals for all of us.  Well, Carl was so upset because he wanted to open that biggest present.  I wouldn't let him.  I had intended those to be the last ones because honestly, they were the least fun thing in the presents.  But, since it was so late on night 2, I told them they could open the big ones that night.  I think Carl might be putting the lesson together that "good things can come in small packages".  Not that he didn't like the big present, but he loved his Webkinz and he wouldn't have opened his frog already if I had let him open the lap desks I bought first.  On our recent trip to Florida, the kids had notebooks and wrote stories for probably 75% of the drive.  So, lap desks are going to prove to be very useful and really enjoyed over time.  But, you know that practical gifts are not always fun to open.  Most families have a DVD player or hand held video games to entertain their kids in the car.  Not us, we'll strap ours down for 15+ hours with some pencils, paper and the closest electronic toy is their TAG reader books and pen.  And yet they seem to survive.

Happy Hanukkah!  I'll try to take some family photos soon. Oh last night was night 3 and they received new underwear.  Please please please......  no one buy Carl any underwear when we visit in NY.  He pulled a Big Ken after opening it last night.  Yup, before we could stop him, he whipped off his pants right there at the table and put on his new Sponge Bob boxer briefs.  As for my father, I do believe that he never put on new underwear after opening it, but he did put on any other item of clothing he unwrapped.

Today, after school the Brownie and Daisy scouts are caroling at the fire station and police department.  Then, tonight is a Den meeting for Carl and Lew, so another busy holiday evening!  Tis the season!