Hanukkah

Tonight is the fourth night of Hanukkah. Colin and I have been celebrating by breaking out our new wedding present menorah and struggling in vain to find some candles for it. See, every synagogue hosts a Hanukkah fair the weekend before the holiday starts. At such fairs necessary Hanukkah swag such as candles and gelt as well as dreidles are sold so people will be prepared for the holiday. Of course, I had two exams last week, Colin had one, and we were both frantically studying for them and had completely forgotten that we lacked candles for our menorah. We did not go and attend the Hanukkah fair, and thus did not have our necessary candles. So, Tuesday rolls around, we break out the menorah and realize that we have no candles to fit it. No problem we decide, we will shave down some Manischewitz shabbos candles and use them for the first night. (Our particular brand of Judaism being fairly flexible about forgetting to get the right kind of candles). We do this for two nights, and on Thursday, after my second exam, I go looking for real candles to fit the menorah. I looked in several grocery stores, and even a Walgreen's but nobody carried candles for a menorah. In fact the clerk at Walgreen's looked at me as if I was nuts, despite the nearly half an aisle long candle section at the store. (I swear, they had every other kind of candle known to man, including scented Christmas candles, but no Hanukkah candles) And since I did not buy candles at the Hanukkah fair, were apparently every Jew in New Orleans gets their candles, we are up a creek without a paddle on this one.