Hanukkah

Our family celebrates various world religious holidays. We try to celebrate a different religion's holiday each month. Perhaps this is because my religious tradition (Mormon) does not have any of its own holidays. We celebrate Christmas in a big way and Easter Sunday is an important day, but that's it. When my husband and I were living in the Middle East, we saw people really celebrating. I want my children to experience a little bit of that.

So, in December, the obvious pick is Hanukkah. The problem is that I have a difficult time finding hanukkah candles in our little part of the world. I have a beautiful hanukkiah that is displayed all year, but for the last two years, I haven't had any candles for it. I suppose that I'll have to order some candles over the internet to keep this tradition alive for our children.

I also would love to find some good Hanukkah books for my children. Any recommendations?

I feel that it is important for my children to have a respect and love for all religions. As I mentioned before, we live in an area where you can't find Hanukkah candles easily. Actually, we live in a place where you can't find anything but Mormons easily. We have a lot of Muslim friends, but we're not living near any of them now. Our children can't play with their children anymore. Since it looks like we're going to be staying here amongst the Mormons for a long time, I feel strongly that we need to teach our children everything we can about other religions and beliefs.

So, we will make a special effort now to celebrate Passover, Eid al-Adha, Guru Nanak's birth, O Bon, and all the rest.