everyday miracles, seen and unseen

My new camera improves my pictures many times over, but doesn't make up for the fact that I am mostly unapologetically a messy person. Hannukah is here and we celebrate it mostly to remember where we come from as a family. But I didn't grow up celebrating it, so we are winging it, and feeling our way through making up our new traditions.

It isn't really suppose to be a present holiday, but the nana, and our aunts, and the cousins, supply us with gifts a plenty. This year the whining got to me, and I decided to let Pizza (aka 4 year old) open his gifts first night, so I wouldn't have to hear it anymore. In a way this is good as it gets them out of the way so the subsequent nights can be a little more low key. And indeed this seemed to work.

First night was a pain, and I found myself swearing I wouldn't be celebrating this holiday next year. I cooked a big dinner, well a chicken and latkes. For the unintiated latkes are a bit of a pain, shredding potatoes, wringing the water out of them as best you can, shredding onions, mix in a little egg and matzo meal, form sortof like you might make a hamburger (wringing out still more excess moisture), and gently, ever so gently, place in hot oil. They turned out great this year, but it takes a long time to make, Pizza isn't so excited about the meal anyway, Yogurt was hungry and a little cranky because I couldn't pay attention to him. In short I could really use an extra hand around when I making them to keep the kids entertained (weeknight= husband at work til late no matter what). So maybe next year we will hold off the big meal until a weekend. Anyway we got through it, ate dinner a little late, lite candles, and finished opening presents somewhere in the middle.

Second night was much simpler and more to my liking. The pictures are from this night. Reheated soup, chicken nuggets (for pizza), and latkes (for me). We lit the candles, made up a prayer, all before daddy came home. We also opened up yogurt's presents, and found a couple extra ones for pizza I didn't realize we had (thank's Nana).

I'm envisioning much the same, except our hannukah treat will be doughnuts, even though I'm very tempted to make more latkes, because they were very good. And then onwards to Christmas smack dab in the middle of all this merriment this year!

Reflections

Listening to christmas carols sung by Kathleen Battle, and contemplating.......

We are a very secular household, mistrustful of organized religion for the ill it has brought to the world, and the ill it still brings to the world. The wars, the nauseting way political figures in this country thumb their bibles, and sell out their souls for power, the use of religion for justification of some many stupid and injustice things.....

and yet....listening to this very religious music, this very spiritual music, floods me with a sense of hope, love, and the grand possibilties of humanity when we open our hearts to the ideals imbodied in the Christmas story itself.

Afterall it is the story of one small family's journey through an unjust world. The love of family prevailing over this injustice, with the help of strangers: the inkeeper who finds shelter for the expectant mother as her time draws near, the sheperds who come to celebrate the child's birth, the maji who bring gifts. Those who one might imagine help shelter the baby from Herod's madness.

It is also about the special possibility and hope that babies bring to world. That the baby born in poverty can grow up to be one who changes the world.

It is about a mother and father's love for their child, the waiting for the baby to be born which is a magical and transforming time for anyone who goes through it.

It is about birth and life and love, and the cycle that envelopes us all and connects us to one another.

The problem for me is how to convey these feelings about humanity and its capacity for goodness into our holiday celebration.