Phyllis over there at Ima On (and Off) the Bima posted a Jewish Meme. I'll play along.
Before we had kids, we had two--the beautiful silver one we picked out together after we were married and the electric one Bubbe gave us which we display in the window (see above). It doesn't fulfill the mitzvah, but the bulbs never die and it looks pretty in the window.
Then we had kids and those kids started attending religious school where, every year, they make new chanukiyot. They're cute enough, but they're unending.
Do you buy your children gifts for every night of Chanukah?
No, although they do get gifts for every night. Those gifts are just often provided by grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. Oh and we prefer not to buy gifts at all. I love making as much as I can.
Do you and your spouse/partner or any other adults in your life exchange gifts?
We usually get gifts for our parents and we typically get a few things for each other. While that usually involves one fairly substantial gift, it often involves a few little things.
Special family chanukah traditions?
I don't know that we do anything particularly new or different.
Chanukah is one of the rare times the kids can have chocolate. They do so love chocolate gelt. So they get even more excited every Chanukah (and Purim which is another time they're allowed some of that lovely chocolately goodness) because they're allowed to have that. We light the plastic menorah in the window, but so do many others. We hang up whatever hand-made decorations have survived. We have a pretty cloth hanging that my oldest sister gave us which we always put up on the front door. Like I said, nothing very new/different.
Latkes or sufganiyot? If latkes, sour cream or applesauce?
Both, but I'm a bigger fan of latkes, but with nothing extra. No sour cream or applesauce for me, thankyouverymuch.
Favorite chanukah book?
One that does NOT play, "I have a little dreidle."
I can't find the book and I can't remember what holiday it was about, so it could be Chanukah, but I'm not certain. It's a children's book about a little Jewish girl in the city at a big party and there's a room where the adults can privately take or donate money. I really like that book.
As far as books whose titles I CAN remember and which I'm absolutely certain are actually about the correct holiday, I'd go with, "It's a Miracle! A Hanukkah Storybook" by Stephanie Spinner.
EDITED TO ADD:
I just remembered a book about the Shoah and a survivor and a potato that a friend got for my kids and I can never make it through that book without tearing up. Ugh. I can't find the book and searching online is proving to be useless. In the story, the grandmother (Rose?) is a survivor and each year, she repeats how she celebrated in the camps--she hollows out a potato and adds oil and string and lights it for Chanukah.
FOUND IT: One Candle by Eve Bunting.
Do you actually play dreidl? If so, what do you use for counters?
Yes we do. At home, we usually use animal crackers or pretzels. At the synagogue, they use M&Ms.
What relationship, if any, do you have with Christmas and all things Christmas-y?
We pretty much try to avoid anything Xmas-related. We even try to avoid the malls and all that jazz.
I do like to scour the ornament sales after Xmas to find cute ones that don't look at all like Xmas, though. There's nothing Jesusy about a pink glittery ballet slipper, but it does look awfully cute in my daughters' bedroom.
Oh and I do occasionally rewrite Xmas songs for my own amusement.
I don't know how many fellow yids I have as readers who haven't done this one yet. So if you haven't and you want to, consider yourself tagged.
