It’s the week of Christmas, which means pretty much everything in this country has shut down. I guess it’s that way for most of the (Christian) Western world, which leaves the rest of us typically standing around twiddling our thumbs. This year, however, it’s still Hanukkah! Yay!
I am taking off for a proper vacation this week while my ex takes his boys to his folks’, but here’s a send off for this week featuring the photos of my Hanukkah.
Here’s me on the first night in my Hasidic snowman Geltfiend sweater. Most everyone thinks it’s a snowman sweater of the normal variety. If you wear this sweater, it is incumbent upon you to point out that they are “Jewish” snowmen, since not everyone knows what “Hasidic” means. Then people will laugh and you will laugh and it’s a little bit of Hanukkah heaven on earth, I promise.
I also wore Hanukkah sweggings, which this Kveller post featured.
It was a tape night the first night of Hanukkah, so I lit candles with the “Big Bang” creator and executive producer Bill Prady and his family and a few others on our set who wanted to join the festivities in my small dressing room. It was sweet. And it was also kind of sad to not have my kids with me. I virtually watched them light their first night candles and I took a picture of them on FaceTime doing so. I love this picture because it shows not only their sweet hands lighting, but it shows me filming them in the corner. A true portrait of a working mom on the first night of Hanukkah I suppose!
My ex and I made latkes and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) for my parents’ second night, and here is what that looked like.
The ex likes to decorate his doughnut with icing. He wasn’t 100% happy with this Magen David, but I think it’s pretty neat so I’m posting it anyway.
Like any good Jews, we drove around and looked for Christmas lights several nights of Hanukkah. Here’s a rather nice one. It’s hard to capture from one’s car window, especially when it’s rainy, but I did my best.
Also, in the tradition of my parents who basically got me pajamas, a new wall calendar, socks, pencils, and books every Hanukkah for my entire life, I got my boys Kveller alum Matthue Roth’s new book, “The Gobblings.” Matthue is a Hasidic slam poet and punk devotee. His children’s books are spooky and mystical with truly gifted artists doing the illustrations and those are exactly the kind of books I want my boys reading, honestly. So many “kids’ books,” especially for Hanukkah, are so… saccharine. I think this will become one of our new favorites.
Those are the highlights. The gifts went over well–the small ones as well as the announcement of the family outing we will do in January in lieu of giant gifts. Little Man is 6 and his molars are coming in and he cries at a lot of things in general, but I think he cried less than half the nights when he got his gifts because of his expectation not matching reality, and you know what? That might just be the miracle of Hanukkah in my house this year.
Enjoy the last night of brightness and possibility. Watch Matisyahu and The Maccabeats’ “Miracle” video if you haven’t already.
And if you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas.
And may God bless us, every one of us.
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