Home > Holiday Blog > Archives > 2008 > December > 15
Monday, December 15, 2008
Your Hanukkah traditions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Growing up, Chanukah was a big deal for me .
My family had a well-practiced routing for lighting the candles nightly. My dad would dip into a drawer where we kept a few spare yarmulkes. We only used those yarmulkes to say the Chanukah blessings.
Every other holiday they remained put away or we borrowed ones when we went to Temple. Then my dad would pull out an old paper that had the blessings in Hebrew and their English translations. We’d recite the blessing in Hebrew and than in English as the candles were lit. I’d get a present on a few night. For my family, eight nights of presents was a myth.
One night, my family would host a Chanukah party where all my relatives would come over. Of course latkes were a staple. A few years my mom even made a Chanukah house (colored mostly blue and white) using molds and melted chocolate.
Yes, it tasted much better than gingerbread. We didn’t play much dreidel because we all knew it was a boring game. The Chanukah party was definitely a night I looked forward to.
What are your Chanukah traditions?
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment |
Saving faith in Santa
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS COLUMN IS NOT FOR KIDS! IT REVEALS SOME IMPORTANT CHRISTMAS DETAILS YOU MAY NOT WANT YOUR KIDS TO KNOW!
It takes a lot of commitment from parents to maintain the illusion that a fat man in a red suit circles the globe with a team of flying reindeer to deliver presents to children all over the world in just one night.
It’s not an easy story to sell, especially as your kids get older. But is it worth going the extra mile to keep your children believing just a little longer?
My mother sure thought so. She was hard-core about keeping Santa alive for us. She did the normal stuff like eat all the cookies and drink the milk, take us to see Santa and talk about him coming a lot.
But her finest, most committed move, came when my brother was about 8 and starting to doubt. She stamped big work boots in the soot in the fireplace and tracked ash footprints all over her family room carpet to prove that Santa Claus had come.
It worked, and my brother believed until the fifth grade when a very mean nun told him outright in Sunday School that there was NO Santa Claus.
My mom remembers he came home sat in her lap and just cried his eyes out.
He asked her “If there’s not a Santa Claus does that mean there’s not an Easter Bunny and not a Tooth Fairy.” His whole little world just crashed in that one day.
My brother’s daughter is 7 and has been questioning this flying reindeer and fat man story for the last few years. My brother and sister-in-law are crafty about convincing her to believe.
When my niece was doubting the flying reindeer my sister-in-law looked up stories and evidence of them online and showed her. This seemed to reassure her.
Last year my sister-in-law “found” a jingle bell left behind by Santa’s sleigh as further evidence that he exists. My niece has the bell by the mantle ready for Santa to “pick up.”
However, my niece has put her foot down about that Elf on the Shelf story. She said she’ll believe in Santa Claus, but she’s not buying that the elf comes to life and reports back to Santa. My sister-in-law had to give in on that one. She said OK, you’re right but please don’t tell your brother. He’s going to bed so nicely.
The NORAD site that tracks Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve has helped in our both our houses. My 7-year-old daughter was having some doubts last year but showing her that radar site cinched the deal for a little bit longer.
And just this week, I received an e-mail from a company called Santa Speaking. The company provides live calls from Santa Claus. They pitch it as a way to avoid going to the mall Santa who probably doesn’t know if your child has been naughty or nice. (You provide “safe” amounts of info to the company beforehand so the call is personalized.) But I think parents might want to use this more when their kids are starting to doubt.
Despite many parents’ best efforts to preserve their child’s innocent belief in Santa, there is always at least one big mouth in a class trying to blow the lid off the cover-up.
My husband was just that kid in a kindergarten class in Augusta in 1975.
Michael says his mother told him when he was 4 there was no Santa Claus. They were in a store and he pointed to something he liked. She said it was too much and he said that was OK because it wasn’t like birthdays where parents had to pay. Santa Claus would buy it for him. He claims his mother looked him in the eye and told him right there at 4 years old there was NO Santa Claus.
From that point out he saw it as his duty to shed light on this terrible scam. He says in kindergarten he was a muckraker working to expose this racket that made poor kids feel bad about themselves.
He would tell children: “Do you think Santa Claus didn’t like the poor kids as much as the rich and that’s why they got fewer presents? No, your parents just couldn’t afford to buy as much.”
As a first-grade teacher, my sister in law deals with kids like my husband all the time. She has the greatest reply to children who ask her if parents are actually Santa Claus.
She tells them “When children do not believe, Santa Claus does not come. Parents have to give presents to those who don’t believe. But if children do believe, then Santa Claus comes.”
For parents who are wondering if preserving their children’s faith in Santa is worth the effort, I offer this comparison.
My brother, who didn’t find out until the fifth grade, absolutely adores Christmas and is joyful from Halloween until after New Year. He loves the holiday and makes it extremely special for his children.
My husband on the other hand who found out at age 4 pretty much hates Christmas and is Grinch-like the entire season. His mom ruined it for him so he’s still trying to ruin it for others.
How much effort do you make to preserve your child’s faith in Santa Claus? When did you find out and how? How and when did your kids find out? Do you think a belief in Santa Claus adds to the Christmas spirit?
Services »
