My roommate, Alexi is graduating a semester early from college. Though she's not one to enjoy celebrating a milestone that ends four years of greatness, the rest of our friends thought it was necessary to surprise her with something. And that something we chose was a bag full of Christmas-themed items. And to make her wear an elf hat. To Panera for dinner.
We're Jewish. All of us. We're Jewish, but we're Jews who love Christmastime. We love Christmastime for the same reason that anyone else loves Christmas: glowing lights, festivities for weeks leading up to the actual day, Christmas music and the occasional, cliche snowfall on Christmas morning. But we also love Christmastime because we don't get any of those things with our winter holiday. Hanukkah exists to provide us with a religious reminder and allow us to light - wait for it - eight whole candles, one per night of the holiday.
Don't get me wrong, I love Hanukkah and being Jewish. I love what Hanukkah stands for, that it brings my entire family together for yet another group holiday gathering. I love the anticipation of wondering what I will open when during Hanukkah, spreading the gifts out over eight nights.
But what I would also love is if we could have Hanukkah cheer, more like the Christmas cheer that surrounds Christmas. There's something about the atmosphere of Christmas, something about the mood surrounding the days leading up to December 25. When it's Christmastime, everyone forgets their troubles, at least for a few days at a time.
So, when Alexi wore her elf hat to dinner and the rest of us wore our Santa hats to dinner, it wasn't to disregard our own holiday and religion; it was to acknowledge the greatness that is Christmastime. And we know that, come Hanukkah, we will light our menorahs, open presents with our families, spin dreidels, all the while humming "All I Want for Christmas."
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