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Festivals Of Lights

Four families discuss how they celebrate Chanukah.

LISA BRODY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY BY GLENN TRIEST

Name: Debby and Mark Vieder Residence: Farmington Hills

Synagogue: Adat Shalom Children: Ryan, 15 1/2; Jeffrey, 13; Adam, 10

ith two working
parents, three chil-
dren with home-
work, sports and
carpools, the Vieders
are delighted to take a
break and celebrate Chanukah.
Debby Vieder craves tradition at the
holiday. "We try to keep Chanukah as
traditional as possible, like it was when
I was a kid, with my grandparents," she
says. She acknowledges that some of her
family's traditions may or may not have
a religious background, but it is how they
have always done things.

"We light the candles each night, and
we light one menorah. We have zillions
all over the house; some of them the kids
have made. But my family always lit only
one menorah, so that's what we do," she
explains.
Each year, Debby makes sure to have
a Chanukah party with both her and her
husband's families. She always serves
latkes and a dairy meal.
"When my kids and my nephews
and nieces were young, we would line
up all the kids and hand them each a
gift," she laughs. 'They were so excited.
We still buy gifts for everyone, but now

the older ones would rather have gift cer-
tificates or cash. The children still look
forward to getting together."
When the Vieder children were
younger, the family annually met with
10 other families with a $10 limit on grab
bag gifts. "I remember making lathes for
several people. Everybody brought a
dish, the kids dug into the grab bag, and
dreidels and chocolate gelt were passed
about.
"Now the kids have their own dreidels,
and each year they still pull them out
and play with lots of pennies."

UGHTS page 8

