Happy Chanuka Chanukah, Chanukkah, Channukah, Hanukah, Hannukah, Hanukkah, Hanuka, Hanukka, Hanaka, Haneka, Hanika, and Khanukkah., thanks to Hanukka? Chanukah? Hanaka? Don’t ask how a Hebrew or Yiddish word is spelled. Lots of variations, in almost every instance.

Chanukah—my preferred spelling—is a no big deal holiday. It’s been co-opted in the United States, as a kinda sorta substitute for Christmas, for Jewish kids who should not feel left out of a national, commercial something or other. Alas, I’m experiencing my first Chanukah without a child for whom I am responsible. Cate Rubin is in Rochester, NY, where she works as a Manufacturing Chemist for Kodak. She lit candles and made latkes. I lit candles, baked Yukon Gold potatoes (with a spot of cheese and some Jigg’s bbq sauce), and will eat blue and white Chanukah cookies for dessert. Not a traditional Chanukah, for sure, but we do what we can.