Last night of Hanukkah

I was actually somewhat sad to bid farewell tonight to Hanukkah, even though I've had way too many latkes (6 out of 8 nights) and making sufganyiot is time-consuming and I feel that all I've been doing the last few days is eating food I shouldn't (although this was slightly mitigated by skipping breakfast this morning because I wasn't hungry and am coming down with a cold, I think, and I had a dentist's appointment anyway...plus I swam tonight so that gives me an excuse to eat well).

Anyway....

Tonight after swimming I got home and was pleasantly surprised to see that Drew had set the table, peeled the potatoes and gotten out the brisket that had been left over from my catering gig last month (which now seems like a million years ago), so all I had to do was chop an onion, cut the potatoes (with Rachel's help; she plopped them into the blender), and blend everything together. Rachel is still a little afraid of the blender's loud noise, so Drew gave her a set of headphones and she looked like a little sound engineer. I fried up the latkes and when I was done Rachel hugged my legs and said, "Thank you for making latkees, Mommy!" I hugged her back and we had a nice dinner, with Rachel whining a little about how she was worried we wouldn't have time to open presents because it was taking so long for us to eat (she refused to try the brisket, which was GREAT, and ate a couple of bites of a latke and LOTS of applesauce). I feel compelled to say here that the container of applesauce Drew bought for Hanukkah lasted exactly eight nights. Call that our little 21st Century version of a Hanukkah miracle.

Rachel impressed us with her near-perfect rendition of the prayer over the Hanukkah candles. Really, in a few months, she'll be able to say the Sabbath prayer all by herself!

She also asked me, "What did you do at work today, Mommy? I really want to know."

We finished opening presents -- thank you Tia Daniella and Valerie and JoJo for the tea set, which Rachel instantly adored, and the Frances book, which she made both of us read twice. She also got some old cake pans from my friend Miriam, whose daughter played with them she was little (that daughter is now studying for a master's in social work). Rachel's gift to us was a little Christmas tree she made at school, which we placed on the living-room mantel (Drew noted with pride that the kids at preschool also made mini-menorahs; he was grateful that both Jews and Christians have a place at St. James). We also thank Amanda and Jenn for the artists' brushes and paper for Rachel's multi-tasking easel, and Richard for the Twin Peaks anniversary set, and Mom and Dad for the truffles and Hanukkah Haiku book, and Jack and Kay for the beautiful vase...happy Hanukkah, everyone!

Cute Rachel saying today: As we were cuddling in bed this morning, I remarked that she had beautiful blue eyes.

"Your eyes are the color of the earth!" she said. Looks like we may have a budding poet in our house..