First of all, I was reading the enormous stack of Jewish newspapers that I surround myself with at my office, when I found this article in the Jewish Journal Boston North about a company that sends "The Intermarriage Holiday Special," which is Hanukkah gelt, Christmas candle and a half gallon of chicken soup with noodles and/or matzah balls.

I also saw a great new iPhone application, iMenorah. It's not a free one but they are going to give some of the profit to charity. I would have embedded the video if they had said which charity. My husband is the one in our family with the iPhone. He's got the ocarina app. He does sometimes let us use his iPhone, but I don't think you can fulfill the mitzvah of lighting virtual Hanukkah candles so I'm going to stick with the old wax-and-matches-method.

If you are trying to calm yourself from purchasing all the adorable little tchochkes that are out there, the folks at the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life have suggestions for simplifying Hanukkah. I had never thought of "cheap gift night," which sounds really fun, but of course in our house "book night" is going to be the most popular.