Lots of firsts

Why is it that over the Christmas/New Year period time simultaneously flies AND it feels like double its actual length? Presumably because so much gets packed into such a short time, but we’re enjoying ourselves so it all goes quickly. Or something like that.

Anyhoo, this was Daniel’s first Chanukah/Christmas/New Year, and a fabulous time was had by all! Let’s take them one at a time…

Chanukah

We’ve never really done a lot for Chanukah before. We’ve lit candles and consumed potato latkes, but that’s been about it. Dh has a thing about “We don’t do Christmas!” in reaction to the people who blow Chanukah up into a Christmas substitute, and so we’ve always kept it really really low-key. This year, though, we managed to get a bit more balance and realised that we can ‘do’ Chanukah without it turning into Christmukah. We will not ever have a ‘Chanukah bush’ (aka Christmas tree) in our home, but a few decorations and a party or two are perfectly acceptable.

With that in mind, I knitted some blue bunting to go across the mantelpiece, and some letters (‘Happy Chanukah’) to string across the window. Admittedly, I didn’t get them finished until just after Chanukah had ended, but they’re ready for next year and have given me lots of ideas for small decorations I can use for other festivals. I’m particularly keen on raggy wreaths, so they may make an appearance at some point.

We also had our very first Chanukah party (well, I did). With all the Christmas stuff going around, lovely as it was, I thought we should put our own mark on the seasonal festivities and invited our NCT group to a Chanukah tea party. After initial confusion, the response was hugely enthusiastic, and we had a lovely time with masses of very yummy artery-clogging food. I even managed to send home party bags for the dads! Hopefully this will be the beginning of a tradition of Chanukah parties at Daniel’s house to go with Christmas parties at other people’s houses.

We didn’t do presents for Daniel this year as he’s still too young to notice (and it didn't occur to us), but dh’s dad got him this, which has already been thoroughly covered in mush enjoyed:

Christmas

We always spend Christmas with my parents, and it was as lovely as ever. I managed to get the shopping done without any last-minute panics (well, one minor one!) and we had lots of time together as a family. Daniel discovered roast parsnips, and spent a solid 2½ hours playing with a cardboard box covered in wrapping paper before he deigned to notice the Hungry Caterpillar toy inside it. When he did, he held it up, looked at it, gave it a hug, and went back to the box :-D The box was my aunt’s genius idea; her son’s birthday is the day before Daniel’s so he was the same age at his first Christmas and she obviously remembers what it was like! My brother, with equal insight, gave Daniel a large kitchen spoon with a bright orange flexible spoon-bit (what’s is that called? Surely it has a name!) which has turned out to trump even an iPhone in terms of desirability for waving/chewing/shouting at.

My amazing parents got me this utterly gorgeous object:

More on this later, but suffice to say I couldn’t have been happier!

Dh and I had a conversation around this time about the appropriateness of taking our Jewish son to celebrate Christmas. It was an interesting discussion to revisit, just to review the reasons we do it. As I pointed out, Christmas is part of my (and therefore Daniel’s) heritage. Although I have chosen a different religious path, culturally it is still part of who I am. Let me be clear – we do not, and never will, have a Christmas tree at home. We put up Christmas cards because it would be rude not to when people have taken the time to send them, but that is as far as it goes. However, that doesn’t change the fact that my family observe Christmas, as does a majority of the population of this country, and we want Daniel to understand and respect that, in the same way that my family join us for Jewish festivals. If his Jewish identity is shaken by helping my parents celebrate their special religious times, then there is something wrong with the way we are bringing him up. Ok, rant over :-)

New Year

In established tradition, we were once again at my parents’ house. We assumed that Daniel would flag long before midnight, so arranged to stay over. By 11.30 dh and my dad had both fallen fast asleep in the sitting room… and Daniel? No, Daniel was quite clear that it was time to party. He stayed up until well past midnight, though seemed a bit perplexed by the Chinese lanterns. On the upside, he was highly amused to find himself still there in the morning!

On New Year’s Day we all headed off to Haytor on Dartmoor to clear away the cobwebs. Dh went up route-march style with Daniel in the carrier on his back, while the rest of us made rather more leisurely progress. Predictably, there were lots of people, but everyone was enjoying themselves and there was a nice atmosphere around. It was also sodding freezing rather chilly and blowing a gale breezy, but thermos flasks and Christmas cake back at the car soon sorted that out while Daniel sat in the back and sang to the seatbelt. Not sure why, but he seemed to feel it deserved an aria.

And so starts 2013! I think my resolutions for the new year need a separate post, but that can wait until tomorrow. Night night :-)