our festival of lights

 

Terrible thing for a **blogger** to write, but I really don't have time to get into the details of our religious backgrounds right now.  Let's just put it this way.  We are a family intertwined by Judiasm & Christianity, and ironically, held together by a renegade that generally likes to see things for herself before she believes anything... and figures it's her birth right to simply decide on her own (in due time of course),  what this life is all about.

Nevertheless, we make a feeble attempt at teaching our kids the fundamentals of as many religions as we can.  And we throw in some science for good measure.  And we practice traditions.  Like lighting the candles on the menorah for eight nights.  Eating fried latkes.  Writing wish lists, hanging stockings & leaving cookies and milk for santa.  And giving presents.  Yup.  We've got the presents part down.

For Hanukkah this year we decided we'd all be far better off spending the same amount of money on just a few fabulous presents than spreading it out on eight fairly uneventful presents for each kid.  Sixteen presents last year.  Three this year.  We'll see how the next seven nights go with no gifts but tonight, I'll have to say was a huge hit.  The kids got an xbox 360 kinect (dad does the advertising for the product so it was kind of a no brainer), Gage got a kindle (hello, he high tailed it off to the other room to, get this... read) and Zu finally got her very own pink ipod. 

As I sit here and reflect on our lovely first night of Hanukkah something does strike me as slightly ironic.  We try relentlessly to instill the meaning of our celebration, so that the kids understand that it's really not all about the presents.  So every year we tell them the story of Maccabees struggle, and how there was only enough oil to fuel the flame in the Temple for one day.  But how do we teach the kids about "the miracle of a container of oil" this year?  By lighting the candles, singing the prayer... and then powering up and plugging in.  

And I video taped the whole thing.  Go figure.

Here's Zu singing with her new ipod.  Funniest part here?  You get to hear what she actually thinks the words are.  You can blame Grandma for the "drunk" line.  I, surprisingly, had nothing to do with that one!...

And here's the kids on the new Kinect.  We have a financial interest in the success of this product.  So if you think our kids look like they're having a blast and you allow video games in your home.  Go buy one.  Or four.  Now...