It's Chanukah, the Festival of Lights.
Foods fried in oil are traditional for these 8 days and nights.
Here in the states, latkes are shared. In Israel, sufganiyot are shared.
I’ll eat a latke or two, especially if there’s sour cream and applesauce.
But jelly donuts are a bigger treat for me, so I’m Team Sufganiyot.
When my daughter was in elementary school, I used to visit her classes with some Chanukah stories and latke making supplies. I’d make latkes for the children. Someone would usually comment that it was like hashbrowns, but no ketchup.
Every child got a goodie bag with a dreidel, a small bag of gelt (chocolate coins), and a coloring sheet telling some different ways the game is played so they could play with their families and friends.
Me, I have a little dreidel.
And I’m okay with that.😉
Even in difficult dangerous times, we can find/make/share laughter and joy and hope.
Wishing you all some sweet shalom this winter!
🕊💫🩵🎶thatcrowwoman
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My daughter is the dreidel champ in these parts.
We’ve played for pennies , for a variety of individually wrapped candies including gelt, for buttons, and for stickers. Stickers were a big hit at a long-ago sleepover with littlebird and some of her friends. I’ve used Paper clips in a pinch, or bottle caps. 
Yesterday we had a 3-family reunion with people, some who have known me since I was 2 years old (except for the ones who are younger than me, which was all but 3 people and I’ve known most of them since they were little.)
My dad has been 6 years gone last month, and mama will be 5 years gone next month. But one of their best friends is still here, and she’s my Mama Shirley, who will be 94 next month. Her daughter has been my best friend since I was 4 and she was 5. She and her husband and her 2 brothers who I consider my little brothers were there. Then came Mama Shirley’s friend who told/tells the best stories and talked me into joining the adult choir and the community theater when I was in junior high. (I did some bit parts but loved the backstage better. I helped build and paint sets and was the costumer’s apprentice.)
Anyway, she’s 94, so one of her daughters brought her. We grew up together, too, and hadn’t seen each other in decades! One of my sisters came with her husband. My daughter and her husband were there en route to another Hanukkah party. Everybody brought a favorite winter holiday treat to share and we munched and talked and laughed and, oh, the love and light was so big and bright. I am truly blessed.
🕊💫🩵🎶tcw
So far it’s been sweet.
And, best of all, it’s ushering in the rainy season, at last! We’re still inches below normal, but it’s finally raining again.
🕊tcw
Was Linda Ronstadt by any chance part of your username?
This popped up in my internal (occasionally infernal) jukebox: