Oy Vey and A Day

I have been working for days on getting my Hanukkah ready. I have been going through all of my Hanukkah bins from the attic. I started with two huge bins and a medium sized one. My goal was to “gift” the larger things to family and friends. As I opened each bin, I touched each object, and did the “thank you for being a part of my life” speech to every item. I decided I only wanted to keep the smaller items. I don’t see myself throwing a large Hanukkah party again. Even if I did, I wouldn’t need all the dishware and decorative items I had.

I gave my daughter placemats and other table items I made several years ago. I kept eight placemats, two table runners, and a tablecloth for myself. Other items were placed in a large bucket to be gifted to my friend. I know the Hanukkah cookie jar, the serving dishes, and candy dishes will be well loved either by her or her friends. That makes my heart happy. 

I set aside an electric menorah to take to my aunt. Her assisted living rules do not allow open flames. I gave her one a few years ago, but somehow in her moves, it has disappeared. One of my chores today was to order and pick up some dark chocolate nuts and chews from See’s to add to her gift. At 95 her joys come from two things, reading and dark chocolate.

I am feeling such success for the last few days. Today, I finally finished my must do’s before my holiday. My house is decorated with simple things that bring me joy. I have items from my mom, G-d rest her soul, surrounding me. I have my grandmother’s menorah still to clean. I am grateful for its presence in my life.

I delivered, contact free, my Hanukkah items to my friend’s house. Annie came along as my car buddy. I then went to See’s and picked up the candies for my aunt. Then I cam home and played with Annie until she was ready to stop.

It was time to finally attack my second pomegranate tree. I filled both of my large green trash cans with the trimmings. Annie was the deciding factor as to how much I did before breaks. She lets me know when she needs attention. I took the filled cans out front and returned to the swing out back. Annie decided she needed to lay on me. I continued to pet her until we both fell asleep. We were there for almost an hour.

A few great phone calls from family and friends made my day. After vacuuming and having dinner it was 7:30. I decided to attack my emails. When I started there were 1,345 to look at. The ads were easy to dump. There were motivational  emails I still want to read, so I put them in a folder. I finally finished after 10 o’clock. I feel best about finishing this chore.   

I am ready for Hanukkah on Thursday night. My menorahs are ready. My candles are ready. I am anxious to make latkes. I am grateful for all I have. This will be a very different holiday. But, G-d willing, next year will be better.