Thanksgivingkah

It is strange to have both Thanksgiving and Chanukah occurring at the same time.  In fact, this won't happen again for 77,000 years.  Stranger still, is the feeling I get when we celebrate a holiday.  I am happy to spend the time with our children and sometimes with our grandchildren, too.  But I always mourn the loss of the valued older generation who are alive and yet unable to join us.  The celebration is tainted by my knowledge that they are part of an institution's definition of a holiday rather than being surrounded by loved ones and long-held traditions. I wish it could be different.  I wish for just one more time to have those older people revel in the family that they helped to create and bask in the glow of respect and love.  I wish...