On the Third Day of Chanukah My True Love Gave to Me...

Chaim went to Manhattan Chinatown for lunch, and brought back my favorite Vietnamese Sandwiches, and just like our past two nights of non kosher eating, we feasted on Shrimp with special sauce over rice, and the crumbled pork between delicious French bread.

Today's appropriate Times story is titled "A Holiday Medley, Off Key", where they discuss multi-religious and interfaith couples. The article lists examples of many Jewish families that have Christmas Trees, and most families try to balance out their separate religions and try to have an equal amount of decorations strung up around the house.
This year we don't have a tree. First we don't have space for it amongst the boxes and mess, and secondly, we don't know where any of the boxes of ornaments are. Just the other day I did unearth a cooler full of Christmas Tree lights, but decided it was too much to deal with. Chaim set up a holiday display on my Aluminium CD rack (replacing an Aluminium tree). On the top shelf is a Nutcracker doll, then some random tree ornaments he found on the street, the most humorous of them being the Family Guy, then under that is another Menorah Chaim found somewhere in an Upper East Side thrift shop, displaying some Day of the Dead figurines.
So far, celebrating Chanukah, has been a good replacement, a contained ornamented holiday with lots of time in the kitchen which is a double bonus because it warms up the house.

Oh and by the way, a Babka update. The dough finally rose after about 8 hours, and this morning I kneaded and twisted it into a nice sticky mess, and placed it into the oven to bake for 45 minutes just like the recipe called for. And much to my surprise, it is actually good. Chaim says "wow this is the real deal!, it tastes like it was made by a women who wears a wig". It doesn't look as good as the picture in the times, and I think it tastes like coffee cake.

Chaim works for the NYC Ballet, teaching dance appreciation to the schools, and so he seems to be in a lot more of a Christmas mood out of the two of us. The project he brings to schools is the Nutcracker Suite and so you can often hear him humming "Dance of the Sugar Plumb Fairies".
Since my birthday is on Christmas, even with out a tree, wreaths, mistletoe, and lights, we will always have something to celebrate. So when ever we hear a Christmas Carol being played on T.V. or radio, Chaim immediately starts to sing along, but makes it into a Birthday song for me:
so instead of

"We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
and a Happy New Year!",

Chaim will sing
"I wish you a Happy Birthday,
I wish you a Happy Birthday,
I wish you a Happy Birthday,
to-oo Mick-i Jesus!

Also today we got phone service, through Verizon. The technician was due anytime between 8am-12pm, and he actually came at 8:15 and was done in two hours!!!! That's what I call a great Chanukah present!