Chapter 3
THE MIRACLE OF HANUKKAH
One day in early December, when Griselda was visiting her new friends, she began to talk to them about the new street lights she had seen in Davis Square.
"They're all over the place," she said. "Over the streets, and on the trees, and all different colors too. What do the blue lights mean? It must be very confusing to the drivers."
"I think you must be talking about the Christmas lights", Melanie explained. "Don't you know about Christmas?"
"No, what's that?" asked Griselda.
"It's a holiday that most people in this country celebrate," explained Marcia. People buy trees to put inside their homes, and decorate them with colorful lights like the ones you saw in Davis Square, and they give each other presents. It's a lot of fun, but we don't have Christmas in our house because we're Jewish."
"We have our own holiday with lights and presents, which comes this time of year," Josh continued. "It's called Hanukkah."
"What's that all about?" asked Griselda.
"Hanukkah means Festival of Lights," said Marcia. "On Hanukkah we light candles in a special candle holder called a Menorah."
"And we get presents," piped up Arielle, her eyes sparkling. "The children get eight of them."
"And we eat potato pancakes," added Melanie, licking her lips. "They're delicious!"
"Would you like to visit us on the first night of Hanakkah?" asked Josh. "We'll be having a little party with some of our friends and relatives."
"I'd love to," said Griselda.
The day of the Hunukkah party, Griselda arrived early at her friends' house. Everyone was eating breakfast when she got there, except for Melanie, who had slept over a friend's house. "I thought you might be able to use my help," Griselda explained as she walked in on a chaotic family scene.
She was right. Everyone in the house was just getting over the flu, and the house was messier than usual. Newspapers and toys were all over the floors and the dishes were overflowing the sink. Even worse, there was almost no food.
When Griselda walked into the kitchen, Josh was tapping the bottoms of three nearly empty boxes of baby cereal for Evan's breakfast, while Evan was trying to spoon the dry cereal and making a mess. Marcia was dishing out cold leftover rice for everyone else. " Arielle was whining about how she wanted real cereal.
"I don't know what we're going to do," Marcia complained to Griselda. The place is a wreck, and we have no food in the house. We're having Joel and Darcie, Debbie and Steve, and my parents over tonight, and we haven't even bought all the presents yet."
"Maybe I can help," offered Griselda. "Why don't you go out and do your shopping. "I'll stay here with Arielle and Evan, clean the house and make the potato pancakes."
"I don't know?" Josh responded carefully. "That sounds like a lot of work, even for you." Griselda had become a friend, but he was still nervous about leaving his children alone with a witch.
"Don't worry. It'll be easy," Griselda told him. "Remember, I have my magic spells. It'll be my Hanukkah present to you."
"Oh please let her," pleaded Arielle. "We could have so much fun. Please, please,". Evan started banging the table with a spoon.
"It's awfully nice of you, but I'm not sure it would work out," Marcia said. "I mean, the children can be pretty difficult at times and ..."
Evan's banging was getting louder.
"Evan, give me that spoon," Marcia demanded. But when she tried to grab it from him he began to shriek.
"Let me try something," Griselda said.
Griselda held her hands out over the spoon and opened her eyes wide and stared. Her mouth looked like she was going to say "Oh," and she made circles with her hands in front of Evan's face.
Evan let go of the spoon and it began to dance in front of him in the air. He squealed with delight and tried to catch it.
"I want a spoon too," Arielle demanded.
"Of course," Griselda said. Arielle took a spoon from the table and held it up for her. Griselda repeated the magic spell and the spoon began to make circles around her.
"Come back here, spoon," Arielle giggled as she lunged for it. "Gotcha!"
Griselda turned back to Marcia. "I've never taken care of children before, but I think we'd have fun together." she said. "And you don't have to worry about my spells. The kids will be safe with me."
"Griselda, you're wonderful," Marcia said. "I don't know what we'd do without you.
Marcia and Josh showed Griselda the recipe for potato pancakes and told her everything they thought she needed to know about taking care of children.
"If you have any questions, just ask Arielle," Marcia said. Make sure Evan doesn't eat anything which isn't good for him."
"Don't worry." said Griselda. "Have a good time. We'll do just fine."
"I want some more spells," Arielle said when Josh and Marcia left the house."
"I need to get some work done first," Griselda said. "I'll think up something really good for you and surprise you with it later. Now why don't you go to the play room and make your Mom and Dad some Hanukkah presents."
"OK," Arielle said. "But think up something really good. Something really teriffic."
With Arielle out of the way, Griselda began to organize her day. She kept Evan in the kitchen with her, so she could keep an eye on him.
She looked around the to see what ingredients were available. Not much. She found one old, wrinkled potato with sprouting eyes, one small onion with a green shoot, one egg, not much flour, and a little bit of oil.
"There's enough here for just one pancake," thought Griselda. "Not enough for a whole party. Good thing I have my magic."
But before Griselda could begin, she noticed that Evan was finding bits of paper and crumbs on the floor and putting them in his mouth. "Let's clean this up first," she said as she took some pieces of dried cat food from him. "Here, play with this," and she handed him a rattle.
Griselda expected to get a lot of work done that morning, but she was surprised at how often she had to stop what she was doing to take care of the children. Arielle needed her to set up her easel and open her paints. Evan needed his diaper changed. Arielle needed more paper to paint on. Evan was walking along holding on to a kitchen stool for support and fell down and bumped his head. She held him until he stopped crying.
She did manage to put her magic broom to work washing dishes, though. She filled a sink with hot soapy water and the broom jumped in, using its bristles to scrub the pots and pans. She filled the other sink with warm clean water for rinsing. Every time the broom finished washing something, it would gently flip it into the other sink for rinsing and then into the dish drainer.
Whenever the dish drainer got full it would hook a dish towel with its handle and dry the dishes. It even put the dry things away. It did this by spinning the pot or plate like a top on its handle while sweeping itself across the floor. When it reached the cupboard it would gently place the item on the shelf. It never broke a thing.
Before Griselda was able to do anything else it was lunch time. She made some peanut butter sandwiches for herself and Arielle and found some baby food for Evan.
After lunch Griselda held Evan in her arms as he drank his bottle. He stared at her with wide open eyes, sucking noisily.
"If you sing him a lullabye he'll fall asleep," Arielle told her.
"I don't know any lullabyes," Griselda said. "Do you think he'd like a witch song," she asked.
"I think so," Arielle said. "He likes daddy's songs."
Griselda tried to sing in a soothing voice but when she opened her mouth out came a rusty squawk. She tried again until she managed a gentle croak. "Oh, Ooh, Eye, Eee. Blood and Guts," she sang. "La la la la la."
Evan's eyelids grew droopy as he drank from his bottle and listened. Arielle sat peacefully in her little rocking chair next to them, giving her doll a bottle and enjoying the song too. Soon Evan was asleep and Griselda placed him in the crib.
"Is it time for some more magic yet?" Arielle said as soon as Griselda returned from Evan's room.
"Let's wait until Evan is up," Griselda said. "It wouldn't be fair to do it without him. How about I read to you for a bit?"
"Alright," Arielle said. "But I can't wait too much more."
Griselda read three stories. Arielle wanted more but Griselda had to get back to the kitchen to start the pancakes. "Why don't you paint some more," she sugested.
Griselda returned to the kitchen and placed a bowl, spoon, and grater next to the potato, onion, flour, and egg on the table. She poured the oil into a frying pan and turned on the stove. She placed a spatula and a plate next to the frying pan.
Griselda stared at the food and clapped her hands. Then she began to sing her magic spell.
Bubble Bubble. Give no trouble.
I want everything to be double.
All of a sudden there were two potatoes, two onions, two eggs, and twice as much flour and oil on the table. The grater immediately began to grate the potato and onion. The egg cracked itself neatly into the bowl while the flour poured itself in. The spoon began mixing the batter. When the spoon was done, the bowl plopped the batter into the frying pan sizzling with oil. When the pancakes were a nice golden brown the spatula flipped them onto the plate.
Griselda timed the work, so that as soon as the batter left the bowl for frying, new ingredients were being created and grated on the table. This way, the pancakes would be able to cook by themselves all afternoon, and Griselda could do other things.
When she saw that everything was working properly, she sent her magic broom, which had finished the dishes, to clean up the toys and newspapers on the floors.
Just then, Evan woke up from his nap. Griselda got him from his crib, changed his diaper and carried him downstairs.
"Look at me, Griselda," Arielle said proudly. She had just stuck her hands into the jars of paint and they were dripping all over the floor.
"Oh no," Griselda groaned. She put Evan down so she could clean up Arielle, but he began crawling around in the paint on the floor. "Come, I think its time for both of you to have a bath."
Griselda took the children upstairs to the bathroom and ran the water. She sat both of them down in the tub, Evan in his special chair so he wouldn't fall down. Then she threw a load of their clothes into the washing machine, so they would have something clean to wear when they came out.
"Evan's splashing me," Arielle whined as Griselda was figuring out how to work the washing machine. "Bad boy." And she started splashing water back at him."
Evan started to scream. Water was getting in his eyes.
"Arielle, Evan, stop that!" Griselda said. "It's time for me to wash you."
Griselda began to wash the children, but Evan didn't like having his hair washed and he began to cry again. Arielle didn't like the way the bathtub was so crowded with Evan in it, and she began to kick. She got Griselda all wet.
"Children," Griselda said. "What am I going to do with you?" Then she had an idea. She gave the children one of her old witchy looks which made them both keep quiet for a moment. Then she began to sing one of her magic spells:
Bubble Bubble, end the trouble
With two fish. On the double.
In an instant, Arielle and Evan were changed into two little goldfish swimming in the bathtub. Now they were small enough that there was plenty of room for both of them. And because they were fish, there was no crying over getting water in their eyes. They swam all over the bathtub, chasing each other, hiding inside the bath toys, and having fun.
"That ought to keep you for awhile," Griselda said, satisfied with herself. Now she was able to tidy the upstairs in peace. When the clothes were dry, she changed the fish back into Arielle and Evan.
"Oh, Griselda, we were having fun," said Arielle. "Can't we swim some more?"
"It's time to get dressed," Griselda replied. And she quickly snatched Evan away from the bathtub. He was trying to dive in head first.
Griselda dresssed the children. "Come with me," she said to Arielle. "I want you both downstairs where I can see you, I don't want you getting dirty."
All of a sudden, Griselda realized that she might have made a terrible mistake. She had been so busy with the children upstairs, that she had forgotten to check on the pancakes. She hurried to the kitchen and gasped in horror at what she saw.
The problem was that Griselda had never told the spell when to stop making pancakes. Now there were hundreds of them, all stacked neatly on platters, piled high, nearly to the ceiling. Not only that, but the spell was continuing to work in full force, doubling ingredients on the table and mixing and frying. The table was a mess with a mountain of broken eggshells and spilled flour. The stove was splattered with oil.
"Stop!" she cried, but it was too late. "Oh no," she groaned. "What am I going to do?"
Griselda knew what she wanted to do, and that was to use one of her disappearing spells to get rid of the extra pancakes. But disappearing spells were very difficult to do properly and they took too long. It would be much easier to just change the pancakes into something else. But what should she change them into?
But before she had time to think too much about it, Evan crawled over to the kitchen table and pulled himself up to standing. He was reaching for the messy eggshells piled on the table when Griselda grabbed him.
"Come, you two," she said. "Let's watch TV." She would have to deal with the extra pancakes later.
When Josh, and Marcia arrived home with Melanie, late in the afternoon, it was snowing lightly and they were in a cheerful holiday mood. Climbing the stairs, laden with groceries and presents, they were greeted by the delicious aroma of the pancakes. The broom was just finishing sweeping the hall.
Josh and Marcia went straight upstairs. There they saw Arielle and Evan clean, in their best holiday clothes, watching Sesame Street. Griselda was slumped in a chair, resting for the first time all day.
"Griselda, you're marvelous," Marcia gushed. "You've done everything. The house looks beautiful. The kids look great. The pancakes smell terrific."
Griselda looked up wearily at them. How was she going to explain about the pancakes. But before she could speak they heard Melanie shout from downstairs.
"Hey, what are we doing with all these pancakes? Are we having a hundred people over tonight?"
"There was a small problem," Griselda said sadly, and they all went down to the kitchen to look. "My magic spell got a little out of control."
Josh and Marcia stared at the piles of pancakes in disbelief. But when they saw Griselda's sorry face they began to laugh.
"You really outdid yourself, this time, Griselda," Josh said. "What are we going to do with all of these?"
"I'll change the ones you don't need into something else if you want, Griselda offered. "Is there anything you need several hundred of?"
"Please, no," said Marcia. "I think we've had enough magic for today."
"These are mgic pancakes?" Melanie asked. "That's great. I think we should eat them every night until they're gone. There's nothing wrong with that. Hanukkah lasts for eight days, you know.
"Eight days!" exclaimed Griselda. "How can one holiday last for eight days?"
"It has to do with the story about the first Hanukkah," Josh explained. "Why don't you tell Griselda about it," he prompted Melanie.
"Well, the first Hanukkah was a couple of thousand years ago and took place in a land called Judea," Melanie began. "At that time there was a special oil lamp that was supposed to burn all the time, called the Eternal Light. The problem was that there had just been a war and they had only enough oil for one more day. And it would take eight more days before they could get more. But to everyone's surprise, that little bit of oil lasted for eight days!"
"We call this story the Miracle of Hanukkah." Marcia added. "It's the reason why we celebrate Hanukkah for eight days and why we light one more candle each night."
"Well then what are we worrying about," said Griselda. "I guess I did the right thing after all."
By now it was evening and the guests would be arriving soon. This was the first time Griselda was to meet some of the family's friends and relatives, so she was a little nervous. "Do you think they'll mind that I'm green?" she asked.
"We told them all about you. "They're eager to meet you," Marcia reassured her.
"They'll get used to you just like we did," Melanie said.
When the guests arrived Griselda was a little shy at first and no one knew what to say. But when Evan crawled over to her and handed her his pacifier and Arielle plopped herself onto her lap, everyone could see she wasn't wicked.
"Wait till you taste Griselda's potato pancakes," Melanie said as she nibbled on one. "They're fantastic."
"Did you grate the potatoes by hand?" Marcia's mother wanted to know. "That's how my mother always used to do it. It never tastes as good done on a food processor."
"Not exactly," Griselda replied. "I have my own ways."
Soon everyone was talking away like old friends.
"It's time to light the first candle", Marcia announced. Everyone gathered around and quietly watched as the little flames flickered and danced against the window pane.
Josh was the first to speak. "We all know about the great miracle that happened on the first Hanukkah. Well, tonight, thanks to Griselda, we have our own miracle. Griselda began with only enough ingredients to make one pancake. But by the time she was done, she made enough pancakes for all eight nights."
With this, Marcia and Josh served the meal. Everyone agreed that the pancakes were delicious.
Five nights later, as the family was sitting down to their fifth meal of potato pancakes, Marcia remarked, "You know, the real miracle of this Hanukkah is not that Griselda made all these pancakes, but that each night they still taste as fresh as the first."
"No," corrected Josh. "The real miracle is that we haven't become sick of eating the same thing for supper every night."