Here come the holidays!!

In my house, we have always celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas, thanks to my Jewish mother and Catholic father. I've never seen any reason to abandon the tradition, so we're doing the same with Zoe.

Some years, like last year, the two holidays overlap, and they sort of merge together to form a big, overwhelming gift-fest, which is less than ideal.

But this year, Hanukkah is now-ish (it started Wednesday), with Christmas almost a full month away. So while there's still some overlap (i.e. we are already singing Christmas carols, and we put up our Christmas tree today), we're able to take our time and enjoy two almost-entirely-separate holidays.

Here are some share-able items from the first five nights of Hanukkah:

• When Zoe asked me if Santa Clause was bringing her Hanukkah presents, I decided it was time to introduce the concept of the Hanukkah Fairy, a longstanding Soltis tradition. When we were small, the Hanukkah Fairy would sneak into our house and hide our presents, and I always loved the search-and-find missions that entailed. So far, our Hanukkah Fairy has hidden presents under the couch and entertainment cabinet, in a bookshelf, and behind some pillows. Zoe has started looking for presents AT ALL TIMES, assuming that if she's a good girl, the Hanukkah Fairy may come multiple times per day.
• On the first night, the Hanukkah Fairy brought Zoe a super-cool gift, hand-picked by none other than my dear husband. It was (wait for it!!)...a Lego Star Wars R2D2 watch!!! (You know you want one.) Charles picked this out because a) Zoe loves R2D2 and b) Zoe loves to swipe Charles' watches and wear them. She opened the watch, looked at it for a moment, and then said, "But I just don't understand why the Hanukkah Fairy didn't bring me shoes!"
• On the second night, the Hanukkah Fairy brought Zoe a pair of shoes! To be fair, she'd picked them out at Target recently, and had seen them purchased, but it had been a while ago, and she hadn't seen them since. I thought she'd be thrilled. Yeah, not so much. "But I don't like those shoes, Mommy!" It was not so worthwhile to explain that she'd picked them out, but Night 2 was another Epic Gift Fail.
• On Night 3, I was determined to be more successful. I had a pink winter hat with pig ears and a pig nose and it was the CUTEST THING EVER and I was sure she'd love it. And she did...for three minutes. It was a step in the right direction.
• On the fourth night, we went to a Hanukkah Party at my mother's house and we had such a great time! Mom made fried foods (latkes and fried flounder - well, Dad made that part), and Zoe ate...mac & cheese. Sigh.

So, these are just some funny gift-based memories. We are actually working very hard to instill traditions in Zoe, more than just gifts. We've been lighting the candles every night, and talking about the miracle of Hanukkah, and spinning the dreidel. We've also been making sure to talk about the importance of giving, particularly in this holiday season.

But that doesn't stop her from being SO EXCITED every night that the Hanukkah Fairy may just come back a second time and hide yet another gift at which she can turn up her nose.

She's just lucky it's a cute little nose...