On Chanukah, when we were young, my dad would hide the presents around the house for each night of the holiday.
He learned the tradition from his parents, and he chose to do it because it adds suspense to gift giving. Also, there are eight days so it makes it more interesting. He kept doing it because he thought that we really enjoyed it. Whenever my mom would say that we didn’t need to do it, he would assert that it is a tradition and that we do it because it’s more fun when it is a tradition.
The tradition gives my family something to look back on and laugh about when we think of the holiday. The informant, my father, remembered a time where we hid the presents and didn’t find them till two years later. The ritual has become in grain, but because we do not come together for the holiday anymore, the ritual has stopped.
He hopes that we will continue the tradition if we have children and celebrate Chanukah, and he thinks that we will just because “it is something in our heads.”