That Holiday Season

I have been trying to write a blog for weeks now. I was all busy writing a diatribe about the hateful people in the most recent election, but then the darn holiday season came around. Now I’m so busy being thankful and happy and delighted with the people around me that when I sit down to write I find that my outrage is all gone. Yes, I have just completely lost my “edge.” I guess I am just going to have to wait to tell you about the people I can’t abide. Don’t worry, though, I am sure that once January rolls around I will be in a bad mood again, and I’ll be able to finish that blog.

For now, though, I just love everyone and everything. I can’t help myself. It’s the Holiday Season, which is a diverse and wonderful time in our household. For one thing, we spend lots of time with our families during this time of year, which is always a good thing. It’s no secret that I love my family. On my “Top Ten Words” I used in my Facebook statuses in 2010, “Family” was Number One. This is a lucky thing, because you don’t actually get to choose your relatives, yet I wouldn’t give any one of them up for anything in the world. This was proved when I kept my ex-husband’s family after the divorce.

So, we always kick off the Holiday Season with Thanksgiving in New Jersey, and, really, where else would you want to spend it? We look forward to this all year. We spend the weekend at my in-laws. We very much enjoy spending time with them, and they always act really happy to have us, too. This year we had my son with us – he spends Thanksgiving with us in “even” years - and that made it even more special. The extended family gathers on Thanksgiving Day, this year hosted by my very gracious brother- and sister-in-law, where we engage in those most important holiday activities – lively conversation and good food. As we usually do, we went into New York City for a show the day after Thanksgiving. This also serves as our anniversary present to ourselves as we were married 7 years ago on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

This year Hanukkah began just a few days after we returned home after Thanksgiving. I would tell you that Hanukkah falls on different dates on the calendar each year, but that wouldn’t be exactly correct, as many a good Jewish person will point out to their hapless Gentile friends who are trying frantically to explain it, just to have some fun with them. Okay, I’m going to let Judaism 101, a helpful website, explain it to you…

A few years ago, I was in a synagogue, and I overheard one man ask another, "When  is Chanukkah this year?" The other man smiled slyly and replied, "Same as always: the 25th of Kislev”…..the date of Jewish holidays does not change from year to year. Holiday are celebrated on the same day of the Jewish calendar every year, but the Jewish year is not the same length as a solar year on the [Gregorian] calendar used by most of the western world, so the date shifts on the [Gregorian] calendar. ( http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm )

All I know is that I check my Gregorian calendar each year to find out when Hanukkah falls, and my Jewish husband checks with me to find out when Hanukkah falls. Whenever it falls, it has become one of my favorite holidays – this “Festival of Lights” that celebrates the resources God gives us to get through the bad times. I love everything about it- its personal significance to me (as my husband proposed during our first Hanukkah together), the lighting of the candles, the presents, and, of course, the homemade latkes and apple sauce.

Our annual Christmas concert with the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale fell smack in the middle of Hanukkah this year. Always a highlight of the season for us, we would go sing our hearts out about the birth of Jesus and then come home and light the candles for Hanukkah. Somehow, it all seemed like the most natural thing in the world to me.

Now we are in the home stretch. Christmas is coming next week. Because I work in the Cranberry area, in the heart of its awe-inspiring business area, I am now able to slip out on my lunch hour to pick up pretty much whatever I need for the holidays. The Target in Cranberry even carries Hanukkah supplies. My Christmas shopping is all done, a week ahead of time. We plan to put up the tree on Monday when my son comes over for Family Night. Nothing like trimming the Christmas tree with family- and Sheldon Cooper and Barney Stinson- to put you in the mood for Christmas, that’s what I always say!

We went grocery shopping and bought three fishes and all the other “fixin’s” for my family’s annual Christmas Eve celebration. This is when we eat fish and pasta, exchange presents, and celebrate the birth of Jesus which is another story of God giving us what we need to get through this life. We are especially excited that we will be having dinner at our house this year, as it is our first holiday season in our new home.

As is our tradition, we will celebrate a Jewish Christmas on Christmas Day with Chinese food and a movie. With “Tangled” as our movie choice at a movie theater that happens to have an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet restaurant in the same parking lot, and the fact that my father will joining us this year, the day should be very Merry indeed.

Here’s hoping that you all are also enjoying the blessings of this holiday season.