Our Holiday Tradition

And why I say Happy Holidays

I’m wishing everyone a happy holiday season. (And so is Feebie) Why not Merry Christmas?

Because there are other December holidays, and not everyone celebrates Christmas. Happy Holidays covers more bases.

I want to thank everyone who’s subscribed to my Writings and Wanderings Substack, and to my followers, too. This endeavor started out as an experiment, a place to share things that have spent a lot of time hiding deep in my hard drive. The “writing” part. And my travels. The “wanderings” part.

I intend to keep Writings and Wanderings free for 2025. I can’t bring myself to accepting money for something I’m having fun doing. Of course, I’m always happy to accept recommendations and restacking, and really appreciate everyone who helps spread the word.

And now, on to Holiday Things.

What do we celebrate in our household? Hanukkah. We’re not particularly observant Jews, but we’re not Christians, either. To me, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. (Did you know Jesus celebrated Hanukkah?)

What’s Hanukkah about? Let’s hit the Google machine which can explain it better than I can.

The significance of Hannukah is that it celebrates the military victory against the Greek invaders who sought to wipe out the Jewish people and Judaism. It also celebrates the rededication of the Temple following that victory that was needed because the Greek conquerors had desecrated the Jewish Temple.

The dedication of the Temple required consecrated olive oil to keep the eternal flame lit. According to the story, there was only enough oil to last one night, and it would take 8 days to produce more. But that one day’s worth of oil burned for eight nights—the Miracle of Hanukkah. It’s also why foods fried in oil are popular.

Hanukkah is not a major holiday in the way of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and some will say it’s grown in significance simply because of its proximity to Christmas.

Since the kids have grown and left, we’re rather basic in our celebratory traditions. Decorations are minimal, and I can usually set them up in about 15 minutes. (Note: Hanukkah does not include a tree.) We’ve cut gift giving down to almost nothing, so there’s no wondering what they need or what they want. And no shopping. No crowds. No wrapping. The Hubster and I count our travel as our gifts to each other for everything—birthdays, anniversaries, Groundhog Day, and that works out just fine for us.

I know there are some who love the choosing gifts and wrapping stuff, but once the kids left home, I found I was happy enough not doing that anymore.

At home, the Hubster and I (and Feebie) will light the menorah (technically, it’s a hanukkiah) each night. Feebie gets a treat.

The local family decides on which of the 8 nights of Hanukkah we’ll have our get together. There are no kids around anymore, so it’s an all adult evening.

Host makes the latkes. Everyone else brings something. Usually, I’m in charge of the rugelach, (even if I’m hosting) which has become our family tradition rather than sufganiyot (jelly donuts). I confess rugelach were a lot more fun to make when my daughters were still at home. It’s an assembly line process, and goes much faster with more hands on the job.

It’s a night of eating (as are all Jewish holidays, which can be summed up as They came to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.). The wine flows. Menorahs are lit. There might be some dreidel spinning. Chocolate gelt might be available. Siri or Alexa might find some appropriate music.

So, what do we do on Christmas? Chinese food and a movie, although the movie is likely to be one streaming at home these days.

I’ll share our two basic Hannukah recipes: Latkes and Rugelach.

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Latkes (potato pancakes).

Ingredients:
6 medium potatoes
1 onion, grated
2 eggs
1 t salt
¼ – ½ c flour (or matzo meal)

Directions:
Pare and grate potatoes and squeeze out liquid. (I use my food processor and don’t bother peeling the potatoes. For a real shortcut, use store-bought shredded potatoes—hash browns.)
Add remaining ingredients.
Fry in hot oil—about ¼ inch deep—until browned on one side. Turn and brown on the other side.
Drain on paper towels. We put them in the oven until we have enough for everyone.
Serve with sour cream and/or applesauce.

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Rugelach

Ingredients:
Pastry:
2 sticks butter
8 oz. cream cheese
½ t salt
2 c flour

Instructions:
In a large bowl of electric mixer, cream butter & cream cheese until
completely blended & smooth. Beat in the salt and gradually add flour on
low speed. Wrap and refrigerate overnight. (I’ve even frozen the dough for weeks in advance.)

Filling:
½ c + 2 T sugar
1 T cinnamon
3 T melted butter (you might need more)
¾ c. dried currants (or raisins, but chop them down to currant size first)
1 ¼ c finely chopped walnuts.
**optional: mini chocolate chips

Instructions:
Combine everything except the butter
Take a third of the dough and stick the rest back in the fridge.
Place 1 ball of dough on floured surface (I use a Tupperware pastry sheet). Roll into a circle about ⅛ inch thick.
Brush pastry with melted butter. Sprinkle with filling. Roll filling gently into pastry with rolling pin. Cut into wedges (I can usually get 16 from each circle of dough.) Roll each wedge, jelly roll fashion, rolling from the outside toward the point.
Then place each little roll, with the point down, 1 inch apart on a cookie
sheet. Curve them slightly – they’re supposed to be horn or crescent
shaped.
Pastries may be glazed with a mixture of 1 egg yolk and 1 tsp water before
baking. You can also sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar.
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until golden.

Again, whatever you celebrate, I hope it means good times for you.