And So This is Chanukah...

Tonight's the second night, and it occurs to me you really do need kids to celebrate these holidays. So far, the total I did was to drive yesterday to Lightbulbs Unlimited and buy new bulbs for the electric menorah. The blue ones there are peeling and date back to the year Wifey and I married --so I figured it was time for a change. I bought orange blinking ones, that simulate candles burning. They're pretty cool. Wifey said she'd go buy frozen latkes, but didn't get around to it. Instead, she went for Thai food with her friend Maureen. Last night we attended my friend Norman's law firm's holiday party. It was a great time -- but no menorah lighting. Tomorrow D2 is driving home from Gainesville, and D1 will be coming over, so there will be some proper Chanukah-ing. When the Ds were small, we enjoyed it -- latkes and filled donuts every night, to fulfill the commandment of eating oily foods. We used to go to some Chanukah parties, and typically some public menorah lightings with our friends Rabbi Yossi and Nechama. This year, so far, there has just been an exchange of FaceBook (tm) greetings, and a few YouTube playings of Adam Sandler and the great SNL song Hanukkah Harry... When I was a kid, we didn't make too big a deal of the holiday. We did have a menorah, but I got one gift -- not 8 like modern kids seem to require. My favorite part was falling asleep with the light of the electric menorah, which we put in my bedroom window. I dug the shadows it cast on my room... On Wednesday, we plan to go to Miami Jewish, Ds in tow. It's my mother in law's 87th birthday, and we'll bring food and light a menorah under the gazebo roof. My mother will smile, and thank "Mother Nature." Strange times for her, these are. But it's true -- the holidays are for kids. And tomorrow, we should have our back under our roof.