I am a big believer in celebrating holidays whether they are big or small. When it comes to the winter holidays, there are three that I especially love: Hanukkah, the winter solstice, and Christmas.
I am Jewish but wasn't raised in the culture or faith, and as such I have (with the encouragement of more than one rabbi and many Jewish friends) kind of built my own celebrations within the context of Judaism. My son is also part of these celebrations when he's with me, but not when he's with his dad. In short, we are the people that a holiday like Chrismukkah is made for.
Why Chrismukkah?
When it comes to Chrismukkah, it's important to know one thing: Hanukkah is not "Jewish Christmas." In fact, when we celebrate Hanukkah, I don't even include gifts — to me, Hanukkah is a deeply personal celebration of a victory when all hope seemed lost, and I also don't want to conflate Hanukkah with the commercialization that surrounds Christmas. This is a personal choice that I arrived at after a few years of including gifts at Hanukkah and wondering why it never felt right (to me).
Chrismukkah is just a fun way to celebrate both holidays since they so often happen around the same time, and it's a way to honor the realities my son lives in. I didn't always celebrate both holidays, but I missed the secular aspects of Christmas (music, lights, trees, presents), and some of my most cherished memories with my son involve those elements. Thus our version of Chrismukkah was born.
How We Celebrate Chrismukkah: Part 1
This year, Chrismukkah was a little funky. My son rotates months with his dad and me, and he was with me when Hanukkah happened. We decided to celebrate Chrismukkah at the same time. For us, that meant opening presents the night before Hanukkah began, and then watching many of our favorite holiday movies together, baking, playing dreidel, and decorating our tree.
How We Celebrate Chrismukkah: Part 2
We also lit our menorah each night of Hanukkah and even celebrated a bit of a Hanukkah miracle. I made a big move out of the US earlier this year and decided to donate my old menorah as a symbolic "moving into a new place" holistic gesture. I kept meaning to buy a new one … and kept putting it off. I found myself scouring my new city for a menorah the day before Hanukkah began, but to no avail — until a friend told me that our local Chabad had them to give away.
While this menorah definitely isn't going to hold up for years, I will always have a soft spot for how it came through for me right when I was starting to beat myself up for messing Hanukkah up.
Food We Eat at Chrismukkah
Our Chrismukkah celebrations officially begin when Hanukkah does and officially end when Christmas does, so pretty much any meal is on the table. Here are the meals and snacks I like to make throughout:
- Latkes
- Brie and cranberries inside a puff pastry
- Challah
- Kugel
- Macaroni and cheese
- Doughnuts
- Cookies
Our Favorite Songs at Chrismukkah
Hanukkah is notorious for not having the best songs to celebrate with, but we try to make it work! Here are a few songs we always love to listen to this time of the year:
- "Candlelight" by the Maccabeats
- "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey
- "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby
- "O Holy Night" by Josh Groban
In short, for me Chrismukkah works because I approach Christmas as a secular, cultural holiday that I've always been immersed in. I know not everyone agrees, and I'm OK with that — this is just one version of a way to be festive, happy, and fun this time of the year.
