Second light
It’s the second night of Chanukah, and here is my hanukkiah (the specific word for what we often call a menorah). The dreidel came with a box of Godiva chocolates from my friend Kim (hi, Kim!), who sent me a box of mints this year. Yum. Mints.

The reason there are three candles is because the one on the far right is the shammus, the one you light the rest with. My grandfather used only one for all eight days, but my brothers and I always like the extra light.
You have to light the candles before Shabbat on Friday, which led to a frantic amount of activity at Sarah’s yesterday—she forgot to leave the candles out for me, and she had already gone out to pick up dinner. So the kids and I searched, found a set of candles that were way too nice to be used, and instead, made two beeswax candles from the make-a-candle kit.
Jake, the oldest, got a huge kick out of trying to beat the clock. “Hurry! We have like two minutes!” I told him. He insisted he could do it in time. He was right.
Tonight, you light the candles after Shabbat is over. Yes, it’s confusing, but that’s why the last line of the song “De Ganza Mishpacha” is “It’s difficult being a Jew!”
Difficult, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
