I am a Depression baby born in 1931 into an Orthodox family in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.
What stands out most in my mind during Chanukah is the menorah. My grandfather would make one from raw baking potatoes. He would cut the potatoes into eight thick rounds, all the same height except for the shamus, which was cut higher than the other rounds. He would cores out small holes, the size to fit the Chanukah candles, which were orange in those days, and place the potato menorah on waxed paper to catch the candle drippings.
When I moved in California in 1940 with my mother, father and sister, my mother continued to make this homemade menorah. When I married in 1952, my in-laws gave me a store-bought menorah, which I used, and so it went until I had children.
During Christmas vacation, we would go to Lake Tahoe. Sometimes, Chanukah would fall during the same week. Not wanting to bring the store-bought menorah with me to Tahoe, I decided I would make a potato menorah. My children were wide-eyed watching me make it. They wanted to make this potato menorah when we were at home, too. When I had grandchildren, we went through the potato menorah ritual.
The grandchildren are grown now. We don’t make the potato menorah, but we do talk about the tradition every year, as we light the first candle at Chanukah. I am looking forward to great-grandchildren and continuing this tradition.