Now I'm Jewish like Britney Spears is a brunette — occasionally and with some effort — but Hanukkah brings out the need to express my heritage. But being half-Jewish, I only lit the candles on the menorah four nights this year. I wish I were kidding, but it would have been funnier if the negligence were deliberate.
I did celebrate with my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins on Saturday. One of the highlights of the evening was my reading of the new Lemony Snicket book, The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming. Just hysterical. A latke runs screaming from the frying pan, and encounters various Christmas icons along its path. As the latke explains what it is and its significance in the celebration of Hanukkah, it keeps getting compared to Christmas. And so it keeps screaming.
And then it runs screaming, "AAAHHHHHHHHH!" for two pages.
It's lots of fun to read aloud, either to a crowd of adults and kids at a Hanukkah celebration, or to a class of third or fifth graders at school. This book will be a must-read every year.
Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah, and before I try making my own latkes, I wanted to leave you with my favorite comedy bit of the season. It's Steven Colbert on The Daily Show, and it cracks me up every time. ("Rosh Hashanah?" "Okay, now you're just making words up.") Enjoy.
That was a very funny video. Thanks for sharing! And we loved the latke book around here too.