Why Hannukah Rocks

So yesterday I was feeling all sentimental and got wrapped up in our family traditions, and I forgot to say how fun Hanukkah is! So here are eight reasons (get it, eight nights?):

1. Playing Dreidel - though we never actually play, we just eat the candy. Whoever eats the most candy wins! I used to put out the traditional "gelt" but now I get more adult and put out truffles or something.

2. Decorating - I decorate for Christmas, but if I only did Hanukkah it would be 2 minutes of getting stuff together and that's it. Well I supposed I'd still do the icicle lights on the outside of the house.

3. Presents - "Eight Crazy Nights" as Adam Sandler says - that's right eight nights of presents! We usually set a budget and sometimes blow it on all on one gift or spread it out. Now we have one rule - there have to be eight nights of presents, even if you blew you budget on a couple of items (so I usually get a couple really good presents and a lot of candy - works for me!).

4. Latkes - There's nothing like 'em! We make them a couple of times during Hanukkah. I supposed that I should make them more often than one week a year, but my laziness seems to make them that much more special.

5. Timing - The date for Hanukkah is based on the Jewish calendar, so it's a bit of a moving target, but usually it is earlier than Christmas, so I get all of Scott's shopping done, then once it's done I get started really worrying about every one's Christmas presents.

6. The spelling - You just can't get it wrong (or right). There are at least three different ways to spell it, and a lot of people don't even know how to spell it, so I'm never wrong!

7. Sunset - That's when you're supposed to light the candles. So I get a get out of jail free card to leave work a bit early so I can get home to celebrate.

8. Eight Nights - I love that we get to be a family eight nights in a row - without all the stress of the single night of family celebration (don't get me wrong, I do love Christmas, but it's way higher on the stress scale).

Current Music: The Hanukkah Song - Adam Sandler