Happy Hannukah!

Tonight is the fifth night of Hanukkah. So far our Hanukkah has been fraught with problems. Among the cooking trouble I've had, on the second night I started the latkes too late and then made it all worse by mistakenly thinking my food processor was broken which required me to grate the potatoes and onions by hand because I had no time to waste, seeing as I was already late getting started. The other two dishes were over cooked by the time the first batch of latkes was ready. It was a bit of a pitiful dinner, with only one parent at the table at a time. Captain Obvious cooked 90% of them and then I cooked the last few. His were better. (For an Irish boy he makes a mean latke. Oh, and falafels, too. And a great grilled pizza. Could he have been blessed with a recessive Mediteranean-cooking gene from somewhere a few generations back?)

At first, Captain Adorable was not been digging his presents. Look, there are 8 nights, so that's a lot of presents. We do one small one per night with maybe one bigger one on one night, usually towards the end. He's been expecting the stars and the moon and been getting little toys. If you know what I mean. :) He likes the gifts and has played , but is disappointed by them at the time he receives them, although he does play with them later. Ah, well. I finally decided to just tell him pretty much what the present was in store for that evening. I was trepidacious (not sure that's a word, sorry) about dropping the surprise element, but it is better this way because his expectations are more realistic and his appreciation of the gifts has become much greater.

But I have been enjoying Hanukkah with my son. I've learned some things while teaching him. Plus we've had a great time watching The Maccabeats sing Candlelight on youtube. I have a feeling I will know the thing by heart soon. 6 times today (all I would allow)! I love watching him pick out the candles for the menorah by himself. Last year I got some really beautiful candles on sale (similar to these if you are curious) and he enjoys being the one to pick out the colors and put the candles in the menorah prior to lighting them. I used be the one to pick out the candles and I loved doing that so of course I love to see my son loving the same thing.

My parents are coming on Tuesday and I am really looking forward to seeing them. I am planing two types of latkes (potato and apple) and contemplating a third (carrot latkes). I also look forward to their help in the kitchen and celebrating Hanukkah with them. Too bad we missed Sinterklaas. Next year.

By the way, I was thinking about something: in one week I called my son Shug (short for sugar of course), spoke Dutch to him, and celebrated Hanukkah. Am I just communicating my personal experience growing up the American South  with a Dutch mom and a Jewish dad? Or am I a mish-mash poseur?