On the last night of Chanukah

my kids gave to Daddy

one pair of sunglasses and a bag of frozen french fries.

I kid you not.

I took the girls to the Dollar Tree to let them pick out a gift for dh. Oh boy was that fun! Before we even got there, Girl1 decided she wanted to buy a "robot with black sprinkles." Um...best of luck with that. When we found an orange robot-looking toy, that was not good enough for her because it lacked sprinkles and a dark color.

At one point, Girl2 wanted to get a pack of play dough. I couldn't fault her for it, though, because she explained, "I want to get that so daddy can play with me with that."

She settled for sunglasses (which was actually a good idea. dh always needs more). I preferred the first pair she picked, but she opted for the second one. Let me tell you, it was a HUGE struggle to let her make her own decision and not jump in for her.

After informing Girl1 that her father most definitely did not want a pink sparkly make-up bag, she opted for the robot sans black or sprinkles. That is, until we wandered past the frozen food (yes, our $tree has a frozen food section). There, low and behold, were the fries. She wanted to get that for daddy and she wanted him to share them with her.

Yes, we got them. Yes she did wrap them, but luckily, she wanted dh to open them right away. Girl2 also wrapped hers, but she held off on giving it to dh until after dinner (and yes, dinner did include french fries).

And get this, the girls insisted on getting a gift for their baby brother too. I told them they had to work together to agree on one gift (that baby does not need any more toys/bibs/anything that comes from the $tree). They agreed on a glow-in-the-dark skeleton shirt (Target reject, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it). We got it in a size bigger so he can wear it next Halloween, but they insisted he wear it to bed tonight. And so he did. Yes, they did come in in the dark to see it glow.

And so Chanukah ends. Big sigh from me. I love it. I love lighting the candles with them. I love singing the songs and reading books about it. And yes, the chanukah gelt is awfully tasty too. :-) As Chanukah ends, we'll clean off the silver menorah, take down the decorations, and pack it all up. I take heart in the fact that this year for the very first time, we'll also pack away the menorahs the girls made and lit themselves. This is what it's all about.

The real miracle of Chanukah isn't that a flame burned for 8 days. The real miracle is that Chanukah flames still burn over 2000 years later. Judah Macabee lit a flame, but it's our children who kindle that same fire today. THAT is the miracle of Chanukah.