i've expanded this story for any one interested...link down below
A Very Merry Chanukah
A Little House Fanfic
Nellie Oleson Dalton was putting the final touches on her little Christmas tree that she kept in her room every year since Mama Cohen came to live with them after Percival’s father passed away. It was only right, she had helped his father, Benjamin, run Cohen’s Dry Goods since it opened forty years ago, when Edna and Benjamin were engaged to be married.
It had begun as a small storefront on the first floor of a tenement apartment house, where Benjamin and Edna Cohen moved into a tiny railroad flat on the second floor. Benjamin opened the store and ran it, but behind the scenes it was Edna who kept the books and advised her husband what to buy. As the store grew and the family with it, first Naomi, then Isaac, the Cohen’s bought a brownstone and were lucky enough to find a small empty building to move the merchandise into. After Benjamin’s death in the late fall of 1886, Isaac had returned to New York from Wild West, with his own family. He was a little frightened at first and just wasn’t used running the store by himself. At Nellie’s insistence, Percival had asked his mother to come live with them and help him run the store.
Six years had passed since then and now, with Nellie helping out, the store had become a great success and they were one big happy family.
“Almost ready?” Percival ran into their bedroom on the third floor of the narrow brownstone. “We’ll be starting soon. My mother and my sister are putting the finishing touches on the Chanukah dinner.”
He kissed his wife of eight years on the lips. “We don’t have much more to go and we’ll probably be lighting the menorah soon.”
“Isn’t there something missing?” Percival asked, eyeing the empty top of the tree. “Like a little angel?”
“That angel is here somewhere,” Nellie said, looking around for it. She had forgotten what she did with it.
“We have one right here,” Percival smiled, picking up little Jennifer Dalton. She had blond hair and blue eyes.
“Papa,” Jenny said, “I’m too old to be picked up. You should know that by that now.”
Percival smiled and put her down. “Of course you are, Jenny. I forgot that you were seven years old.” He put her down.
“I have it, Mama,” Benjamin said, running out of his room.
“Thank you, Benny,” Nellie said, bending down to kiss her son as she took the angel from him. “Now you straighten up your hat.”
“Mama, Uncle David calls it a kippah,” Benjamin replied and ran back to the mirror to adjust it. “And Mama, it’s Ben, not Benny. You know that Grandma hates when you call me that. Besides, I’m not a baby anymore.”
“You’re right, my little man,” Nellie said, as she placed the small angel on the tree. “Come on, let’s go. Can’t keep Grandma and your Aunt Naomi waiting.”
It was the first night of Chanukah and the menorah was on the table. There were dreidels on the floor and presents piled high in the other room. Edna and her eldest daughter, Naomi were in the kitchen frying up the potato pancakes, or latkes, a popular dish for Chanukah. The four pound brisket was still in the oven waiting to be sliced and potato kugel or pudding to go with it. From the bakery were some doughnuts, challah bread and fudge.
Naomi’s husband, David was sitting in the study reading when Percival, Nellie and the twins ran down the stairs.
“Uncle David, Uncle David,” Ben ran and jumped up on David’s lap, the book falling to the floor.
David smiled and hugged him from behind. “Hello, Benjamin,” he answered, picking him up and putting him down on the floor as he stood up to greet his brother in law and his wife. Unlike Percival, David Feldman stood six feet high and was the tallest man in the family. He took hold of Benjamin’s hand as he kissed Nellie on the cheek and pumped his brother in law’s hand.
“Ah, there you are,” he said kissing his sister and brother in law on the cheek.
“Always nice to be noticed,” Nellie said, kissing her mostly absent brother in law on the cheek. It was safe to say that she only saw her brother and sister in law on holidays and she was glad that she did. David had a law practice around the corner from the store. They had been married for four years now, but no children, not yet anyway. She turned to her husband. “I’m going to check and see if Mama needs any help.”
“Can I come help too, Mama?” Jenny asked, wanting to act grown up.
Nellie smiled and held out her hand. “Sure Jenny, Grandma would love it.”
“Is it time to light the menorah yet?” Benjamin asked, as he picked it up from the table.
Percival smiled and bent down. “We will light the candles soon enough, right before we eat.”
“So did you have fun today?” Uncle David asked little Ben as he placed him on his knee.
Little Benjamin nodded. “We walked over to Macy’s Department Store and looked into their windows. They are all decorated for Christmas with trees and toys. Then we went upstairs to see Santa.”
David looked at his brother in law. “Santa?”
Percival shrugged. “We’re teaching the children different things about religion. They have a right to know what is out there, David. Now that Papa is gone, we changed the arrangement. The children will be allowed to choose when they grow up what religion they want to be.”
“Papa says it’s alright that we see Santa,” Jenny said, running from the kitchen over to join her brother. “It will give us a sense of what Christmas is all about. She says we have the best of both worlds, whatever that means.”
She turned to her uncle. “Dinner is almost ready,” she announced.
“It’s time to light the candles,” Edna called out. There were two places to put the candle, the shamash or servant light in the center and another on the right side of the menorah.
They watched as David adjusted his own kippah and took the shamash from its holder in the center and, after lighting the candle, he recited the three blessings and then used that candle to light the one on the right.
“Do you know the Chanukah story, children?” David asked, getting up.
“I do,” Benjamin said, raising his hand as if he were in school. “Papa says that there was a great miracle that happened that night.”
David nodded his head. “Very good, Benjamin, a great miracle did happen. But do you know how and why?”
“He’s only seven, David,” Percival answered, but Benjamin stopped him.
“I know, Papa. Judah Maccabee and his brothers fought the Syrians for three years and drove them out of the temple. As they cleared the temple of the Greek gods that the Jewish people were forced to worship, they came across a small container of oil to light the eternal light. It was only supposed to last for one day, but a miracle happened and it lasted eight nights. That’s why we light the candles, Uncle David.” He smiled.
“Yes,” he said, “Your are right, Benjamin. And do you know what the letters mean on the dreidel?” He handed him a small wooden one.
“Yes I do,” Ben said, pointing to each letter as he spun the top around. “That is a nun, a gimmel, a hey and a shin. It means “a great miracle happened here, Uncle David.”
David looked up Percival. “Did you teach him all this?”
Percival shrugged. “He’s a quick learner, David.”
“Jenny, Ben,” Nellie said, placing the hot food on the table. "It’s time to eat. You can play with the top later.”
“Wait, one more thing,” Percival said, taking two pennies out of his pocket. He bent down and handed one to Benjamin and one to Jennifer. “We call this Chanukah gelt or money. I will give these to you for eight nights until the holiday is over. On the last night, you get a surprise.”
“Thank you, Papa,” the twins said and hugged their father.
“Now,” Percival said, releasing them and he stood up. “We can have that dinner now.” And taking both by the hand, walked over to the table and sat down next to his wife, with his kids on either side.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4702952/1/A_Very_Merry_Chanukah
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