traditions

When we talk about Hanukkah traditions, so often they are discussed as serious and somber. But tradition, prayers, hymns — can be joyful, silly, irreverent.

After the solstice, the light very slowly begins to return, and every day is a little longer. Yule is a promise: winter sucks, but spring will come again.

I didn’t think a lot about gratitude growing up. That is, until the desire to maintain an old tradition motivated me to ask a new question.

For the past 18 years, my dad and I have run in the local Turkey Trot together. Holiday rituals make it almost impossible to ignore the passage of time.