Hanukkah with the pre-school set

I just spent an hour at Petra's school teaching the children in her class about the meaning of Hanukkah and celebrating the holiday with dreidel games and snacks. A few observations:

1. The story of Hanukkah is complex. And violent. And very difficult to tell to four and five-year olds. I found the story online at the Jewish Publication Society's Children's Corner and I *still* had to modify. Seriously, the last thing I wanted was for children to walk out of the classroom saying, "Petra's mommy told us that the Greeks tried to kill the Jews and so the Jews fought back and won against an evil Greek king and killed lots of people." Um. No.
2. Dreidel game = gambling. There are no two ways about it. It's a lot like dice. You put money in the pot and spin the dreidel. If it comes up Gimel, you win the pot. And yes, I just taught the children how to play.
3. The whole peanut-free thing? Difficult with the bringing-the-snacks-to-school thing. There are no stores in the area that sell baked goods that cannot say with absolute certainty that their products have not in some way touched or come in close contact with a peanut. And that means I had to bake. And we know how much I love that.
4. Petra doesn't want to share. Yeah, she wasn't too keen on sharing her mommy with her friends. Nor did she like the idea that every child in the class came up and hugged me after my presentation (and I can't say that I was too keen on it too). She grabbed me as if to say, this is my mommy and the rest of you need to go out and get a cool mommy who reads to us and brings us snacks...just. like. mine.

All in all, it was fun but I should've been better prepared. And I should've decorated the classroom. And I should've frosted the cookies. But the kids seemed to enjoy themselves; and let's face it, they're only four.

So to all of my Jewish friends (and non-Jewish friends who choose to celebrate), Happy Hanukkah!