As we light the Hanukkah candles beginning Sunday evening, Dec. 14, I can’t help but remember the celebrations of my youth.

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My mother’s family was very close, and we cousins (13 of us) were raised together practically as siblings. On holidays, we squeezed into my grandparents’ tiny apartment. There were so many of us that my grandpa, Papa Harry, even put a board in the children’s table.

The highlight, of course, was our Hanukkah party. The pile of latkes! The mountain of presents! The noise! The excitement! The squabbles!

Then, when we cousins started producing the great-grandchildren, we moved the celebration to Aunt Sally’s basement, which bulged with our bounty. (No one ever thought of drawing names for a gift exchange back then!)

When my grandma, Mama Hinda, passe

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