Dreidel, Dreidel, Yawn.........

When I was younger, the highlight of Chanukah was the game of family dreidel.

I remember the sheer exhilaration of being up ten pennies one minutes, and then losing it all the next. I anxiously anticipated each turn, and I spun the top with unbridled delight.

Determined to relive that childhood wonder, I insisted that we play a game of dreidel at M’s Chanukah party last night. I printed off a make-your-own-dreidel cutout from the internet, and went to work folding and taping.

After a few glasses of wine, some latkas, and some vegan chili, I announced that it was time for dreidel.

Even the lovely hostess M, who always humours me, was somewhat skeptical.

I insisted that fun would be had by all participants. M doled out the pennies and the game began.

After about ten minutes we were all bored stiff.

I tried to increase the drama by upping the stakes. Each player would now put in, *gasp*, three pennies each turn, rather than one.

Still bored.

I quickly thought up an adult modification - strip dreidel:

Gimmel: tell someone to take off an article of clothing
Nun: nothing happens
Hay: tell someone to half remove an article of clothing
Shin: take off an article of clothing yourself

O glanced at his younger sister sitting across the table, and at M’s husband, and gave a forceful, "um, no."

Why was it that I now found this game so boring? Had I been so corrupted that nothing but sex and high-stakes gambling could hold my attention?

Luckily I didn’t have to stress about this too long.

At my next stop that evening I found myself playing with the host’s table coasters. They are made of little rainbow coloured plastic people that fit together like puzzle pieces. Their baseline configuration is a ring. Their little arms snap into each others’ stomachs and they can also be made to sit on each others’ heads.

About an hour passed and I realized that I had made the plastic people lock into each other in every permutation and combination possible.

Seems that as we get older, our attention spans don’t wane, our tastes just become more sophisticated.