I was brought up in a small town so I immediately assumed that my parents did not consider it a priority for me to marry a Jewish man. Or maybe they didn't exactly intend for me to meet my husband in high school? Well, regardless, I did not go off to college to meet a nice Jewish boy. I stuck with my perfectly nice atheist instead. The boy who once said to a priest at Easter, "Hey, I saw you last Christmas". So growing up he was a Creaster. And now he watches conspiracy shows on the "History" Channel about alien ancestors (he just thinks they're interesting; not necessarily true). But this isn't about Bill, or me, it's about our kids.
Okay, back to me. I have always taken issue with this whole blurring of the lines between Hannukah and Christmas. I don't do the Hannukah bush and we certainly don't get visited by Hannukah Harry. I believe in a peaceful coexistance and appreciation of both holidays. So in our house we have Christmas take-over with... a Hannukah corner in the dining room. Seriously, Christmas seeps out of the pores in our house whereas Hannukah occupies the top of a china hutch. Is this because Bill has taken over? Yeah right. No, it's all me. I put up most of household Christmas decorations. We decorated the tree together as a family, while drinking eggnog and listening to carols on the TV. The truth is, ever since I was a little child; I've loved Christmas. I understand there's deeper meaning for Christians but for the me, the traditions of Christmas are fascinatingly wonderful and I feel that they can peacefully coexist with my little holiday of Hannukah. More about Hannukah later...
Growing up in this small town, I found it in my best interest to become adopted by Christian families around the holiday seasons. So it started off with just decorating the tree with a family friend, then eating a formal Christmas Eve dinner to finally just immersing myself completely by eating the dinner and then sticking around to go to Mass, sleeping over listening for Santa on the roof and waking up to my own stocking and gifts (from my mom- who fully endorsed my holiday-adoption) under my friend's family's tree. Eventually I became adopted by my future in-laws and have been spending my holidays ever since with them. So you see, this is not new, my love of Christmas.
But what of the children? And why does Hannukah have such a small corner of our house? Well, it's a lot like the real world, first of all. With sparkling red garlands hanging from the rafters, choirs singing the Messiah (some of my favorite musical pieces to sing), Christmas trees galore and you get the picture... and then one lonely plastic menorah lit up on the storefront window. Does this mean there should be a bigger menorah? Should the chorus have opted for less "New Born King" and more "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel"? Perhaps, but not on my account. See, Hannukah is a great holiday. It's fun, it commemorates a miracle, sure, but in the grand scheme of Jewish holidays... it's not among the holiest. And our holiest holidays aren't really the type that get malls all excited either (no gift buying for Yom Kippur... no grocery lists... in fact, no eating at all).
And so it is in our house, we celebrate both. They exist peacefully in the same home with some Hannukah dreidels making their way to the coffee table on the Christmas quilt and some gifts wrapped in Santa paper being opened on a Hannukah night. And Liam telling his teachers at the Jewish Community Center preschool that his favorite holiday is Christamas. Okay, maybe I'm not making it any easier. Afterall, I'll admit to giving Christmas pajamas as a gift for Hannukah- But I only do it so they can get some use out of the PJ's in the month of December!
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