Happy Hanukkah! December 20, 2011
Posted by mareserinitatis in religion, younger son.Tags: hannukah, health, illness, menorah, younger son
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I think running myself ragged finally caught up with me the past couple days. I was starting to get a cold a couple days ago and woke up this morning in bad shape. Fortunately, it’s not an infection…just my immune system overreacting to everything and telling me that today was a day off, whether or not I wanted it. I guess this is the up side to having the teenager home during the day now: his younger brother has this week off from school, so they kept each other entertained while I lay there in a cold- and cold medicine-induced stupor.
I thought this only happened as a student, but I guess not. Teaching is just as tiring as learning.
Despite feeling cruddy, we managed to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. A couple weeks ago, the younger boy came to us and said he wanted to celebrate. I wasn’t sure what to do, but a friend sent me some information and I spent a bit of time researching how to properly observe it.
I have to admit that I feel a little funny observing a holiday from a religion with which I have extremely limited familiarity. I’m not sure why this is. I would never feel funny if my non-Christian friends participated in Christmas (and I have a lot that do). I’ve also been invited to participate in a Hillel meeting once. (I had no idea what was going on, unfortunately…but I was still welcome!) So I don’t think anyone would get annoyed…but it’s still an odd feeling.
We lit the first candle of the Menorah in our front window. I don’t know if any of the neighbors saw it, but if they did, I suspect they’re going to think this explains why we never hang up Christmas lights. Actually, we did hang them up one year, but we didn’t take them down until August. So now we just never bother with hanging them up.
Overall, it was fun. My friend sent us a card game that’s about Hanukkah, so we played that after lighting the Menorah. I guess I thought we had to wait until indulging in fried foods, but I guess not. Donuts, anyone?
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