When doing some computer clean-up on this post-Thanksgiving day, I ran across this note I jotted to myself at the beginning of Hanukkah last year …
This year we are trying something new: opening all our gifts on the first night of Hanukkah so that we can focus on family activities the rest of the holiday, with no whining and demanding to open presents. The first night felt crazy. The kids were wrecks in the afternoon. But somehow dinner was actually ok, and the actual present opening was fine too. Afterward we pushed bedtime back even more so each kid could have special time with each parent before bed. They chose to play with some of the new gifts, to our delight.
But this afternoon. It was so hard. Meltdowns and tantrums and me trying to fry latkes while dancing to the Maccabeats and just wanting everyone to feel the love and joy and LIGHT. Was all that child angst about presents? And is it worth it, to cram all that opening and gift gluttony into one night? I guess we will have to wait until the end of the week to see if we manage to say PRESENT when not demanding presents.
Staying Present
When I think back to last Hanukkah, I’m filled with happy memories of the wonderful family experiences we had that entire week: family game night (dreidel and other fun games too!), evening library visit, ice cream out. Now, I barely remember the presents or the chaos of that first night, except that we did indeed open all of them that one night. We really, really enjoyed the seven following nights. So YES, that insanity of the first night was worth it! Those meltdowns only happened that first afternoon. And the craziness of opening all the presents in one night–well, that only happened one night too! The rest of the nights were filled with family-focused activities and fun. It was about US, about BEING present, not about getting presents. It was exactly what I wanted.
So this is our new Hanukkah tradition: yes to presents, but a bigger YES to being present TOGETHER each of the eight nights. This year the kids know the routine. They have asked what we are doing for our fun activities each night. Yeah there have been wishlist items shared. But the focus has been on what fun activities we are doing together. The focus has been on FAMILY. That’s the best Hanukkah gift I could ever receive!
I am so looking forward to Hanukkah this year and creating more memories of fun experiences with my children!
Would you like your Hanukkah to be more about BEING present and less about GETTING presents? Are you interested in planning a family-focused, be present Hanukkah? Check out this post about how our family plans for this holiday.
