And now, for the first time on Jewish Simplicity, we welcome a guest poster. Chava Gal-Or is a very talented educator who served as the education director of Congregation Adat Shalom in Bethesda, Maryland, when I was student rabbi there once upon a time. Chava sent in some additional suggestions for "Simplifying Hanukkah":
Your kids are almost old enough to look at making candles. On one of the nights of Chanukah, my family makes a ton of volaire (sp?) candles that we give away each and every time we are invited out over the course of the year. Our goal is to spread the light of Chanukah.
We never buy gifts for the kids, but we always buy one family game or activity for us to enjoy.
Each night of chanukah, we share stories, play games, eat together. We love the book "A Jar of Fools" by Eric Kimmel; some years we share the stories of the wise men of Chelm over the 8 nights of Chanukah. Even to this day, my boys our 11 and 15, we share/create stories together as a family.
Decorating the house for Chanukah is absolutely a family affair!
[One year] we forfeited spending any money on games to replacing all of our lights with CFLs.
We always have people over, cook simply, and make latkes.
My older son, Aryeh, said that he is always so excited about the holidays because it is about being together. I hope you and yours love your time together; it is so profoundly precious to be surrounded by our kids!
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