Christmas And Hanukkah In January

We had our ex-door neighbors over for dinner tonight.  For years they’ve had us over during one of the days of Hanukkah to celebrate with them.   Our children look forward to it every year, as do the parents, I think.  Especially so this year given neither family has been much of anywhere except essentials and family for the most part since the beginning of COVID-19 lockdown in the United States.  

My husband made a decidedly not-Christmas or Hanukkah dish of Butter Chicken tonight, which was enjoyed by all.  My daughter was vocal the entire time that there was too much adult conversation going on.   It’s hard to explain to a child who wants to be involved that adult conversation is just going to happen.   We want to catch up, we’ve missed each other. 

After dinner we gave their children (and our two sitters since COVID-19) their stockings, filled with candy and silly things my daughter had helped me pack as tightly as she could into the stockings—the same stockings she and her brother get at Christmas.  My suggestions on how to pack a stocking are still not setting off alarm bells about Santa with her.  But she wants to believe, and I can understand that and support it for as long as she wants.

Then my children opened up their sacks, yes, I said sacks.   They went overboard this year, getting little things and wrapping each item in their own tactile paper and ribbon, some in fun ways for my daughter to discover.  She loved it.   My son was animated and funny the whole night.   

They left later than normal bed time, but it was a special night and one the children will remember.   

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Too Much Candy Update:  Our friends got the children lots of candy, including a mega gummy for each.  My son got a huge gummy dinosaur and my daughter has a glitter gummy unicorn.   Stephen, the father, suggested they eat as much as they could before bed.   They did get some in while we were talking and in-between my daughter sitting on the whoopee cushions they’d had in her sack.   They went to sleep without a complaint, sugared up and exhausted.