My friends, when I was young, would think that I received a lot of presents since my family had eight nights to celebrate our holiday when they only had one. In reality, most of the gifts my sister and I received each night were practical, like socks, underwear, and pajamas. For the last night of the holiday, we might receive a special gift or toy we wanted for that year. For my family and I, Hanukkah was never about the gifts we got, or how much money we needed to spend on each other. It was always about the tradition of being together. We still call each other up every year and sing, slightly off key, to traditional prayers when lighting the Hanukkah candles. We sing other traditional songs afterwards and it's always funny when we forget some of the hebrew words. It doesn't matter if we're in the same place (one year we lit candles when sitting in our van) or even if we see each other in person. What matters is we recognize the holiday and take the time to light a candle and celebrate our faith.
So however you celebrate your holidays this year, make sure it's not about what you bought at the store. Sometimes the holidays mean a little bit more ;-)
And these are some parsnip latkes frying on the stove, mmmmmmmm.
Happy Holidays everyone!!!