Move Over Holly, Hanukkah is Here

Oh look, it's December! That means it's Chris-HANUKKAH season!

That's right, it's time for the Festival of Lights and lots of jelly doughnuts. We'll light some candles, sing some songs, and fill our bellies with fried food. Do you know why?

Because Mother Combs has decided to do a "Get to know me through Christmas" challenge. And I must participate with my special challah-twist. Just kidding, no one eats challah on Hanukkah unless it starts on a Friday. But MC has decreed that there shall be 10 facts about me, so get ready.

1. One of my favorite things about Hanukkah is retelling the story; I do a fantastic remix. Mostly because I always feel like I'm in a rush when telling it because I don't even know if people really want to hear the whole thing. Since moving out of my parents' house, I've always lived in places where I'd be the only person celebrating Hanukkah. Often times, those who have joined me in celebration, know basically nothing about the holiday. So it's up to this raised-Jewish-but-doesn't-care-about-god peep to educate. Every year its a different version, but it gets the point across.

2. I absolutely love picking the colors for the candles. And I'm somewhat adamant about using the same brand of candles since I was a kid. Maybe it's the nostalgia, maybe it's the consistency- but I always make sure to get the same box of candles. And I always order them later than I should and then hope they arrive in the mail on time.

3. Speaking of mail, I have to order all my Hanukkah stuff up to the Arctic. And as mentioned, I usually order them a little late so it's always up to the miracle of the holiday to make sure the mail comes in. I wonder if I'm the most northern person to be lighting the Hanukkah candles. That would be pretty lit. [insert cringe here]

4. This is my own tradition that has only really started in the last 2-3 years and I'm really proud of it because it's something I've started and want to pass down. It's called weird.

Let me explain. I am a cook, not a baker. But every year I am stubborn enough to make sufganiyot which are jelly doughnuts. And every year I have to work with this dough when I don't really know what I'm doing. But when you roll out the dough and cut out the circles, there's always all the bits and scraps leftover. Now, a normal person would just re-roll the leftover dough and make more. Not me. Because I get stressed that it doesn't stick!

So I gather all the bits, and rip 'em so they aren't all connected, and I fry them like that. I make weird. And then I cover them in sugar and that's it!

Laziness + Innovation = Delicious

5. Most of my family lives on the other side of the world, so holiday times were filled with family friends. My favorite thing about Hanukkah as a kid was the party and how the house would be filled with family friends and good food. When I moved out, I'd always make sure to invite lots of people so that I'd be throwing my own Hanukkah party. It makes loneliness a little less big.

This year however, family was not involved in the holiday. I don't want to talk about the big part of that story. But also, my wife had flown to Mexico a few days prior to get some sun while the 24/7 darkness period starts here in the arctic. Last year it was real rough for her. Luckily I'll be joining her in a week and I'll get my dose of sun too. But this meant that she was not here to celebrate Hanukkah with me; which is hard. However, I'm truly grateful to my friends who helped me so much to throw a small Hanukkah party. Decorating and baking in half a day- now that was a rush! But it felt so great to continue on the tradition of being surrounded by good company and good food.

6. I actually love Hanukkah songs. Not that Maccabeats shit, but the kids songs that I grew up with. There's so much more than just Dreidel songs. Here's a little medley I found that didn't make me cringe:

7. When my wife gets sad she loves when I sing her one of the Hanukkah songs over and over again. As she starts to feel better she sings it with me and it's fucking adorable. It's amazing actually how much of the song she knows when it's in a whole other language. Is it weird when I sing it in July? Yes. Do I do it anyways because my wife deserve it? Absolutely.

It's called Ma'oz Tzur if you want to hear a version of it. No idea what it's actually about but that's fine.

8. Hanukkah is the only time of the year where my dad would play poker with me. I'll break that down for ya.

Hanukkah sometimes falls around the same time as Christmas. When I was a kid, our neighbors who were Christian would invite us over for a Christmas party which was always really fun. As the night would wind down, a bunch of the adults would pull out poker chips and cards and start playing. My dad has always been against gambling, and this would be the only time he'd actually play (not that money was involved even). I was usually one of the only kids left at the party by this time, as everyone had to drive to their homes and I was right next door. So, I'd sit and watch them play, and sometimes the adults would include me in the game. As I got older, they'd even let me play- and I loved it. Felt super cool. Had a terrible poker face. But at least I wasn't as a bad a player as my dad was.

I'd always ask my dad to play poker with me at home and he would say no. He didn't want me to play gambling games. But I found a loophole.

The dreidel game is basically gambling. (oops I said it)

So every Hanukkah I was able to get my dad to play poker with me because he couldn't say that gambling wasn't allowed when we'd be playing dreidel! Obviously we played for chocolate coins #gelt.

9. Okay, two more. I can come up with something. Here's a random one! My first year living on my own was in the Arctic in an Inuit community called Igloolik. Hanukkah fell basically at the same time as Christmas so I was excited to teach my students about it. The school was putting on a Christmas concert and I got to teach a Grade 1 class the Dreidel Song. They even performed it in front of the whole school wearing little dreidel hats. Super cute. 10/10.

10. When I was in Grade 2, our class made our own little Chanukkiahs (the thing where you light the candles) out of a wooden pieces and little copper pipes. We colored it in with markers and wrote our names on it. It has always been my own Chanukkiah. Last year, my wife got me a brand new fancy one (that I picked out obviously), and it is stunning! I think this is the first year I didn't use mine from Grade 2! But to be honest, it is pretty banged up and probably missing some pieces. I am really in love with my new one, but I know that when we have kids, I'll want to pass my old one down. Or our kids will make their own. I don't know. But it'll be pretty cool.

Alright Mother Combs, are you happy? I did it! I got to 10 Hanukkah facts about me!

Hope y'all enjoyed, and Happy Hanukkah~