Chag Sameach & Happy Hanukkah!

It's rare that Hanukkah falls so late in December that it overlaps Christmas. It's even rarer that it begins on Christmas Eve, but this year, that's the case!

Matt and I are spending this evening making latkes, exchanging gifts, lighting the candles, and seeing my family.

Growing up, we got one present a night. My parents would always give us our biggest gift on the first night, but then we were allowed to choose what to open. We'd line up our gifts in the living room and wait impatiently for dad to get home from work so we could light the candles (the holiday begins at sundown, so I never minded Daylight Savings and early evenings!) and open gifts.

Here's a picture of my siblings and me celebrating Hanukkah in 1995. Be nice.

The best Hanukkahs were the ones when my sister and I both loved American Girl dolls. We'd circle everything we wanted in the catalogue and then each night we'd get a new accessory for our dolls. These days, we don't get eight gifts, but it's nice to continue the other traditions.

Matt isn't Jewish, but he likes celebrating with us. When he first did Hanukkah with us, I wrote down the prayers (which are said in Hebrew) phonetically for him, but now he remembers them by heart. I'm very proud.

If you don't know much (or anything) about Hanukkah, Mental Floss did a nice little write-up on some of the important (and less-important) aspects of the holiday.

Finally, I thought I'd leave you all with this, which made me laugh because it's just so damn accurate:

I hope you all have a joyous holiday, however you celebrate!

What are your holiday plans?
Do you have any unique traditions for the holidays?

ABK