Hanukkah vs Christmas

December is a busy month for us. We have Hanukkah, Christmas, and throw in three birthdays and it's an expensive month. We, of course, bring this on ourselves. The real meaning of  Hanukkah and Christmas has nothing  to do with gift giving. Over the years Christians brought in Santa and Reindeer, while the Jewish people decided to compete with Christmas and add gifts to the festival of lights. This is very clear in our house. We didn't want Christmas to out shine Hanukkah, so we started the gift giving. We try to keep some religion in it, Lee and Jake say the prayer before screwing in the light bulb on the menorah. We don't use real candles, it's a fire hazard. Which is why whenever Hanukkah falls over the annual office Christmas party at our house, someone will end up screwing all the bulbs in. I guess they thought we forgot to do it. On Christmas Eve, my brothers family comes and we exchange gifts. We do say a prayer before the mayhem begins. I guess that we failed to put much holy in the holidays. We do however bring out that feeling of giving. Jake does a charity drive in December for Duffels for Darlings. We donate food for the food pantry. We buy socks for the homeless and put mittens on the mitten tree. We do over do it. Both holidays are based on faith. Faith that the oil would last and faith that a child would be born. We have the freedom to choose what we wish to believe. There is no right or wrong. If we choose to mix it up a bit, and still get the same result, so be it. What is that result? To believe that if you have faith, and give of yourself, the world will be a better place. So as the holiday season begins, we wish you a Merry Hanukkah, Happy Christmas and a Joyous New Year. Take care!