That's Life 1-2-09

Issue of Jan. 2, 2009 / 6 Teves 5769

Dear That’s Life,

Before Chanukah every year, I dig out our ‘Chanukah box’ from the garage. Almost like a holiday in a box, in it we keep all our menorot, dreidels, extra candles, assorted other items and all of our children’s Chanukah projects. Memories flood back as we open the box –– “I remember making that menorah with Daddy!” exclaimed my daughter –– and we all know Chanukah is here when the box resurfaces and makes its way into our kitchen. One year, because we had moved, we could not find the box, and with hours to go before we had to light the menorah, and after days of fruitless searching, my husband ran out to buy enough disposable tin chanukiot and candles for all of us. Although we clearly had a ‘chag sameach,’ it was just not the same.

This year, baruch Hashem, our Chanukah box needed an expansion plan. With the size of our family and the numerous projects and song sheets that came home, all of our wares simply could not fit into one box. As if we had built an addition on to our home, the second box did not go unnoticed and two of my children commented on how we had grown. And as I dismantled and packed it all back up again, I took real pleasure in being able to place the newest additions in the boxes. By the time my kids had woken up Monday morning, the windowsill was clear and the boxes were gone. What we would have were the pictures and the memories, but the boxes and their contents would have to wait until next year.

I wondered if anyone would notice, but I knew they would. My daughter walked into the kitchen before boarding the bus and saw the counter, bare and clean. “Wow,” she commented, “it’s so empty.” But it is like that the other 51 weeks of the year, I thought.

I was really waiting for my son to come downstairs –– the same child who cried the morning before because he knew only one more day of Chanukah was left. He actually took it better than I thought, and when he looked around and saw everything was gone, he simply looked at me and said, “So how many more weeks until Chanukah comes back?”

MLW

If something happened to you “that could only happen around here,” you’ve got to share! Was it funny? Outrageous? Hopefully, it wasn’t too painful. No matter what, if you type it up and sent it to

In case you were wondering, Burgers Bar is under the supervision of the Vaad Hakashrus of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway, and plays music you can find on MLW’s iPod.