Those Crazy Katz' of Windsong Lane: Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Festival of Lights

The Katz’s were forced to try to tactfully bow out of the 4H Christmas Carol night. They did, however, look forward to the next day. The next day was the beginning of Hanukkah, and even better, Grandma and Grandpa Katz were coming to visit! The kids couldn’t wait. They were used to seeing their extended family often, but since they had moved it had been very quiet. Not everyone could go the extra miles into a place not well connected by plane or rail. Also, it was going to be a bit hard to fit more people into the house. Jack moved in with Sarah and Ellie, and Joe moved in with Emma and their parents. That left a bedroom free for the grandparents, and they pushed the two twin beds together to make one big bed. Bathroom time was always tight, but they were prepared for a little more waiting in that regard.

Sarah said, “I hope they get here before sundown! “ The kids were so expectant that they all just sat there looking out the window. They couldn’t stand it. The sun was inching toward the horizon and they couldn’t wait to see Grandad and Grandma. They were also so hungry! The intoxicating aroma of latkas was wafting out of the kitchen and it was driving them mad. Joe was literally jumping up and down in anticipation. Ellie couldn’t stand it and put her coat on to go wait by the lane for them. Jack decided to go out and join her, and Snitch crept out with them to see what was going on. They were both sitting on the fence on the lane, and Snitch was sniffing along the side of the road, when they finally saw a car approaching. It was an old model silver Subaru. It was them!!! Jack and Ellie both ran up the lane to reach the car and then ran back down the road with it as it turned into their long driveway. Consequently, when the car finally did stop in front of the house, the two kids and Snitch were both standing next to the car panting clouds into the cool air. “Nana and Oopa!!” they shouted and when the older couple got out of the car they ran up to trade really big hugs. The rest of the family had come out as well and there were hugs all around. When the excitement had died down some, the bags were retrieved and the whole crowd went back into the warmth of the house.

Grandma and Grandpa Katz had the same dark hair as Johnathan, though neither were quite as tall and both were a lot grayer. Grandma Katz’s hair was mostly white and she wore a multi-colored knit cap and matching scarf over her wool coat. Grandpa Katz had a similar dark trench coat, and they both looked very distinguished, if a little bit tired. They had driven a couple of hours from Chapel Hill to come visit them. Nana said, “Oooo, my grandchildren! I couldn’t wait to see you all! Look how much you have all grown in just a few months! I’m going to have to come down here more often!” Oopa talked about the drive and how they had gotten lost, turning on Windy Road instead of Windsong Lane. They had a whole bunch of packages, which they instructed Johnathan to take directly up to where they were sleeping, and they told the kids they would whip anyone caught peeking. “Oh, I’m so hungry!!” Nana said “and I smell latkas!” Karen said, “It’s almost ready. Let’s go in!”

This was the best part of any Hanukkah, everyone coming together to sing and light the candles. Traditionally, the youngest gets to light the first candle on the first night, so Karen helped Emma to hold the candle and light the menorah while everyone sang. For eight nights they would do this at sundown, each night lighting one additional candle and each night singing the same song in Hebrew with small variations. After candle lighting, they all shared a piece of gelt, or chocolate money, and sometimes if they were lucky they would get a gift. This first night, they went to eat first, since everyone was too hungry to wait, and latkas are best right off the griddle. Ellie personally thought that there wasn’t anything better in the world than her dad’s latkas with sour cream. She could eat ten of them if anyone would let her!

After dinner and the candle lighting, Grandpa minced his way upstairs and after a while came back with a box. Suddenly, it was quiet and all eyes were on him. Nobody wanted to say it, but they all hoped it was a gift! Grandpa sat down with infuriating slowness and five pairs of eyes were on him eagerly shining in expectation. He said, “Now kids, you know Nana and I went on a little trip this year. We took a nice cruise around the Caribbean, but we left from Florida, and while we were in Florida I found the perfect thing! Who wants to open the box?” They all said they did, but Oopa said that Jack could open it, so he ripped off the tape and opened the box up to find… um… a stuffed baby alligator. They were stunned. What?! Grandpa said, “Isn’t this the neatest thing you ever saw? I know your dad just loves those reptiles and we saw some live ones down there. They were just about in every hole filled with water and I just knew you needed one of these. I’ve got one at home for myself!” He looked around proudly, and the kids just either looked stunned or cleared their throats. Jack said, “Thank you Grandpa. We love it.” and gave him a kiss. The rest followed his cue and said thank you as well. Through all of this, Karen had been standing in the doorway watching. Then the alligator had come out it was all she could do not to bust out laughing. He did this to them every year, and every year those kids fell for it. Somehow, they were always hopeful that something really good was going to come out of one of his boxes. Every year he seemed to find something completely useless and unexpected to give them. Ah well, it was good to have to deal with disappointment every now and then. She’d make it up to them a little later. She had her own gifts to give.

The kids actually did think the alligator was neat. They marveled at its tiny teeth and long jaw, and the ridges on it’s back, and they wondered what it would be like to actually see a live one in a swamp. They couldn’t help wishing for something different, though. Every year each of them had their hopes pinned on a few personal wishes, but money was always tight and there was no telling if any of it would ever materialize. Sarah said to Ellie and Jack that night, “Do you remember last year? Oopa brought us sand! It was sand from the Mojave Dessert!” “Yeah”, said Jack, “I remember. It was neat, but… sand?” Sarah said, “Well, you know it’s usually really interesting though, and I kinda like thinking about what kind of crazy thing is gonna come out next. You really never know with Oopa and Nana. That’s what makes it fun!”

That night as Karen tucked the kids into bed, she gave them each something. Emma got a new soft baby doll, Joe got a toy car that would go on it’s own when revved up. Ellie got a new book for her sketches, Jack got a book called “All Creatures Great and Small” by James Herriot, and Sarah got a book of recipes. They each got a big kiss and a hug. Joe giggled in glee. He couldn’t believe this was just the first night of eight!

The following day Oopa brought down another box and produced a snow globe beach scene for them. Karen shook her head, what possessed him to buy that? After a pause, Nana piped up and told them about how they had visited Jamaica and how Jamaica has a bobsled team of all things, even though it’s a mostly tropical country. Then she brought out a bag full of knitted rasta hats for each of them and they spent the greater part of the rest of the evening trying to speak in Jamaican accents while playing dreidel with plastic beads for money.

And so it went. Hanukkah became a journey that the kids got to take with their grandparents through the Caribbean. They looked up each island or stop on the map each night. On the fifth night, Oopa told about their stop in Belize, which was probably their favorite. He brought out a little Mayan temple figurine and Nana produced a book of Mayan stories and they spent the night reading about the Mayan people. On the seventh night, they each got some plastic beads from New Orleans and read a book about a creole Little Red Riding Hood, a story called “Le Petite Rouge”. It was a lot of fun to try out the creole accents.

In this way, they spent a little bit of time in the middle of winter touring the tropics, and in-between was a great deal of visiting and catching up and showing Grandma and Grandpa around the place. The last night of Hanukkah was traditional in that they had latkas again and a turkey dinner. With some regret, they lit all eight candles and sang. They knew that Nana and Oopa would be leaving soon, and they loved the way Oopa’s deep voice rounded out their singing. Their grandparents had to get back to their own home, though. When they were in Raleigh, Nana and Oopa had come over every week and usually stayed for dinner at least one night. It wasn’t that way with them staying farther away now. It was a little sad to see them go. But, say goodbye they did.  After the two-week visit, it seemed rather calm in the house when they left. This was all a matter of perspective, however. Justin would never have said their house was calm or quiet. Everyone went back to their own rooms, and there was at least a little bit of relief in that.