A Time to Laugh

Thanks to Elmo, Isaac asked if we could celebrate Hanukkah this year. I said, “Well, Jesus celebrated Hanukkah. Some say He was conceived during Hanukkah. Okay. Let’s see.”

So I made the menorah — a little bit of Martha, a little bit of an excuse to practice knitting with wire. I lined up the latke recipes. We found some gelt. We got a few books — one for kids, one with the whole story, and one to satisfy Mom’s obsession with American history (especially as it intersects with Polish history!). We even had some honest-to-goodness homemade chicken noodle soup a la Kaminski! I did overhear my tender little near-4-year-old ask the dog today, “Sugar? Do you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanza?” And then I heard Sugar respond in a familiar voice (but pitched a little higher than the 4yo’s), “I celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah.” Who IS this child?

The Jewish custom is to recite a certain blessing with the lighting of the candles. I thought we couldn’t resist talking about the Light of the World at these moments, so I’ve collected several such “blessings” from the New Testament. For today:

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. . . . If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
I John 1:5-7

That’s the “shammash” up there. It’s the “worker” candle. But Isaac calls it the “pastor candle.” “Why, Isaac? Where did you get that?” “Well, Mommy. It’s taller than all the others, see? And it lights all the other candles. It’s the servant candle. So it’s the pastor!” Wow. That child. . . .

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