So far we’ve had a really wonderful Chanukah!  What makes it nice is having almost all of our kids at home.  Ds20 and ds14 happened to arrive home from different cities at the same time on Friday afternoon, and when they came inside and everyone was hugging each other hello and talking, I had a very full feeling of deep inner joy: this is my family, that every bit of effort I invested as a mother was worth it.  I had that feeling a number of times over the next few days as I watched them all interacting together.  I love seeing their loving and supportive relationships with each other.

When we moved to Israel, we decided to stop giving presents on Chanukah.  We always tried to keep this toned down, but with so many people giving each other presents just among us and the kids, it made for a lot of stuff.  I wanted to keep the focus on the spirit of Chanukah more, and moving here was a good way to make a shift away from presents.  I gave one family gift this year (the board game Cadoo) and the kids have enjoyed playing it together every day since then.

Otherwise, our focus is just on time together – especially now that ds14, dd17 and ds20 aren’t usually home.  (Ds20 was only home from Friday to Monday.)  After menorah lighting (anyone over the age of 5 who wants to lights his/her own menorah), we sing Maoz Tzur/Rock of Ages, then continue singing more Chanukah songs together as my dh dances with the kids.  (This has been our routine for many years.)  Then we sit around together after that, mostly relaxing while the Chanukah candles burn.

Another thing that adds to the Chanukah feeling are the appearance of a couple of foods that are unique to Chanukah.  We usually make chocolate glazed doughnuts at least twice during Chanukah.  Our electric food processor and our manual food processor both broke so we couldn’t grate any potatoes for latkes (potato pancakes).  Then yesterday ds14 brought home a new hand grater and last night he made latkes for everyone – delish!

The only one  missing was dd19, and I’m grateful that thanks to technology we were able to fill this gap a tiny bit.

We skyped with dd19 before menorah lighting on Friday when everyone was here, so she could ‘be’ with us during lighting.  In the middle we suddenly heard the sound of a camera going off along with corresponding flashes of light, and there she was, taking pictures of us from her computer in the US!  On Tuesday night we skyped again (ds20 wasn’t home anymore); this time she asked everyone to get in the picture right before we began lighting.

Here’s the picture she took, with dd19 in the corner inset (everyone holding a candle was lighting a menorah):

When spending time with her children and grandchildren, my mother often says, “It doesn’t get better than this!”  Many people are so focused on the performance and accomplishments of their loved ones that they can’t appreciate them for being unless they’re also doing.  I’m grateful that my mother finds so much joy in the simple things in life, and I share that feeling!

Avivah