Join Harry Styles and his wife as they journey through life with their first-born daughter Grace (plus their other two children, Ethan & Penelope) in a collection of realistic, nonlinear short stories that will melt your heart, make you smile, and e...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Latke! Get your latkes!" Harry yells from the kitchen, advertising the potato pancakes he made for their first night of Hanukkah as a family.
"What are these?" You ask, picking one of the latkes up and placing it on your plate.
"It's kind of like a pancake." Glenne explains. "The Hanukkah miracle involved oil. So we eat things fried in oil."
"Okay! Do I just eat it?" You ask.
"I like sour cream on mine." Jeff pipes in on the conversation.
"When I lived with Ben we always had applesauce on them." Harry adds.
"I like mine plain if I'm honest." Glenne whispers just to you. You chuckle at her comment deciding to try each different way so you can decide for yourself. You pull the spoon out of the sour cream and spread a dollop on your Latke.
Hawk chases Grace as she screams with joy through the kitchen. Grace grabs onto Harry's leg, hiding behind him for protection from the Azoff son.
"Grace, be careful, love. Daddy has hot oil over here." Harry warns. " Let's not play in the kitchen okay?"
"O-tay! Wha' ya makin?" Grace stands on her tiptoes as Hawk comes to her side.
"Mmmm Sufganya!!!" Hawk licks his lips in excitement for his favorite jelly filled doughnut.
"Tha's right Hawk. It's like a doughnut Gracie. Want one?" Harry hands a doughnut down to each of the kids. Both children stuff the suganya into their mouth, causing their cheeks to puff out like squirrels.
"Gracie?" Hawk says after taking a final gulp of doughnut. "Wanna go play Dreidel?
"I play!!! Un-ca Yeff? You play game?" Grace asks Jeff.
"I would love to." Jeff passes off baby River to Glenne. Picking up a bag of chocolate coins he takes them and heads to the kitchen table where Hawk has laid out the dreidel.
"How many coins daddy?" Hawk asks.
"Let's start with five chocolate coins." Jeff says. "Grace would you like to help me count?"
"Yes!" Grace moves in her chair so she is sitting on her knees. Jeff opens the bag of coins and allows Grace to count five coins for the three of them.
"One... two... free... four... five." Grace counts out some for Jeff, then does the same for Hawk and herself.
"Everyone put one coin in the pile." Hawk holds his finger up, emphasizing only one coin needs to go into the middle of the table. Grace picks up one coin, setting it into the pile.
"Alright Grace. When it is your turn you will spin the dreidel like this." Jeff demonstrates how to spin the top. The wooden toy spins around the table landing with a letter that is colored green.
"Nun!!" Hawk shouts with happiness. "That means daddy gets nuf-fing."
"That's right Hawk. Nun means zero." Jeff explains to Grace. "Your turn bird!" He hands the dreidel over to Hawk for his turn to spin.
Biting his lip, Hawk holds the dreidel between his middle finger and thumb, snapping them together, causing the top to spin loose. All three participants have their eyes glued to the wooden toy until it comes to a stop. Falling flat on its side, a yellow letter that looks a lot like a 'w.'
"Shin.... Ah man!" Hawk sits back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest in disappointment. Picking up a coin he adds it to the pot.
"This symbol means Hawk has to add one chocolate coin into the pot." Jeff explains as Grace nods. She is soaking the information up like a sponge.
"My turn?" Grace asks.
"Yes!" Jeff picks up the dreidel and helps Grace place her fingers on the handle. "Okay Grace, now try and spin the dreidel." Sticking out her tongue with concentration, she attempts to spin the top. Her stubby four-year-old fingers get in the way so the top only spins a few times.
"WOW! Gracie!! Good job!!" Jeff cheers." A blue symbol is facing up on the top. "This symbol means Gimel. You get the whole pot."
"I win!!" Grace cheers. She takes the four chocolate coins, adding them to her original pile. "Dis fun!" Grace adds a coin to the middle with Jeff and Hawk to start the next round. Picking up the dreidel, handing it to Jeff to start his turn. The three of them play dreidel until Jeff runs out of coins.
"Un-ca Jeff?" Grace crinkles her eyebrows in worry. "You have my coins!" Grace slides the coins over to Jeff, hating the fact that he doesn't have any chocolate left.
"Thanks Gracie! But you keep em okay?" Jeff ruffles her curls, touched by Grace's big heart.
"Will everyone gather in the family room? It's time to light the menorah." Glenne says to both families. Everyone gathers in the front room where the menorah is placed by the large window overlooking the backyard. The families stand around in a semicircle to witness the special event. Jeff lights the center candle, called the shamash.
"Happy birthday to you...." Grace begins to sing, thinking it is someone's birthday. The family all holds back giggles as Glenne squats down to Grace's level to explain what is about to happen.
"Tonight we are celebrating something that is really cool. A long time ago, oil was lit in a temple. This oil was supposed to last one day." Glenne holds up her finger, to emphasize the one. "But the oil lasted for eight days. So each night, we light a new candle."
"We blow dem out?" Grace asks with curiosity.
"Not right now Gracie bug. Uncle Jeff is going to say a prayer and light the first candle." Harry says to his daughter.
"O-tay. I ready!" Grace smiles, watching Jeff's every move.
Jeff begins the traditional blessings before taking the shamash into his hand to light the first candle. The children watch the flame burn as they talk about the importance of Hanukkah and why it is celebrated in the Jewish religion.
"Happy han-o-ka." Grace says to her father, giving him a tight squeeze against his leg.
"Happy Hanukkah Gracie bug." Harry hugs his daughter back, loving the fact that Grace has enjoyed her first Hanukkah celebrations just as much as he did all those years ago.
