Happy Holidays

The holidays have brought everything we hoped and feared, from wonderful memories of waking up at Grandma G's and Grandpa's, to a somewhat horrifying pile of presents that threatened to bury MZ in a wave of consumerism.

We trekked to the grandparents' for our traditional Bay Area crab feast for Christmas Eve, hung the stockings with care, and awoke in the morning to open presents with the family. My parents had the joy of seeing their first grandchild in front of the Christmas tree, and welcomed the lighting of the menorah on First Night, before we sat down to dinner with all the Aunties and Grandparents at the same table. In this, our first set of holidays, we reached equilibrium with Christmas as part of MZ's cultural heritage, and Chanukah as her religious foundation. It helps that she's too young to ask for a Christmas tree.

Since then, we've lit the candles at home, alone or with family and friends, and while MZ has no idea what it all means, she seems to enjoy the candles and rhythmic prayer as much as she does when we observe Shabbat, and I like to think that somehow it will impact the way she looks forward to all this next year.