Its so much fun-akkuh to celebrate Hanukkah

Hank playing with the dreidel and Hanukkah gelt
Georgie enjoying his latkes with applesauce last night


We have never been very good at celebrating Hanukkah around here - that 800-pound gorilla Christmas always ends up taking over. Oh, we lit the menorah faithfully the first night and Grandma and Grandpa always send Hanukkah presents, but around the third night we'd end up forgetting to light the menorah, then we'd end up lighting the rest of the candles on the last night, etc. This year, I vowed to make more of an effort. So on Sunday night we served latkes (potato pancakes for all my fellow gentiles out there) and made a bigger deal out of the whole night. Grandma and Grandpa sent some really awesome presents this year - each night the boys get to open a new car for the Lionel train layout we have set up in the basement. The first night was the engine and tonight was a rocket car, which both Hank and Georgie thought was VERY COOL. There are lots of other little presents in the Hanukkah box as well, which they have had a lot of fun opening.

Oh, and I must confess that I did not make the latkes by hand and fry them myself - I found some very good mini-latkes in the frozen food section that you toss on a baking sheet and pop in the oven. Maybe next year. Hey, I'm trying!