Merry Christmas

It hard to convey just how much Christmas has been all around us for the last couple of weeks. The closest thing I can think of is the amount of Passover hype you get in Israel. In fact, it dawned on me during Hanukah that the dissonance I’m feeling from all the Christmas hype (conveniently referred to as “The Holiday Season” to be non denominational) is probably how Arabs in Israel feel before and during Passover.

The main problem with the analogy is that unlike Christmas, Passover doesn’t have its own unique colors, scents and flavors, so the hype around Passover blunt but limited. Christmas hype is not: Not only do commercials refer to “Holiday Sales”, but also all the merchandise is suddenly either green or red, and every chain store offers things that are cinnamon and/or eggnog scented or flavored.

Another difference is the extent to which people embrace holiday symbols. Starting about two weeks ago you could already see women with tree broaches and ornament earrings. Can you really imagine anybody walking around with a necklace with a silver matza as a pendent? Maybe it’s because Christmas is a happier holiday (celebrating someone’s birthday is nicer than celebrating exile and a 40 year hiking trip) or maybe it’s because the Jewish people are just naturally more cynical (see “Shit Happens” for a comprehensive comparison of world religions).

But, just as in Thanksgiving (and during black Friday) we decided to embrace the culture around us. The problem was we were unclear as to what Jews in the US do at Christmas. A short quantitative study which included both focus groups and one-on-one interviews led us to the conclusion that Jewish tradition is to order Chinese take-out.

So that’s what we did last night. We had some friends over, ordered too much Chinese food (i.e. We’ll be eating Chinese on Christmas day, not just Christmas Eve) and enjoyed the night. We were also planning on watching Bill Maher’s Religolous (did someone say cynical?), but since one of the guests already saw it, we ended up watching someone else. Overall a fun night. A tradition we can likely embrace.

Happy Birthday Jesus!