Fun ways to incorporate Jewish values into your family's Chanukah

For Jewish children, the excitement of Chanukah is often connected to the promise of receiving gifts — usually one for each of the eight nights. For parents, however, the gift-buying and gift-giving can start to feel like a long-running episode of the Home Shopping Network, leading some of us to wonder: What messages are we imparting to our children during this time of year?

While our daughters were growing up, my husband and I paused to consider the values we wished to encourage during Chanukah. Agreeing on “quality family time” as a main goal, we tried a new approach and categorized each of...