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While the winter holidays often line up, it is unique to have Christmas and the first night of Chanukah fall on the same day. Many of us are in partnerships that are multi-faith, and may be excited by this cultural calendar combo. Christmas and Chanukah have long been lumped together in the secular world. It might seem that the only overlap between the two are presents and winter---but when you look closely, there’s much more in common.
The overlapping and overarching themes of both Christmas and Chanukah are also ideas that we can take for our own relationships: miracles, illuminating darkness, perseverance, togetherness, and rejoicing and celebrating the good in our lives.
So this year, we at Seven Circles encourage you to take advantage of this combination holiday and really go for it! Honor your Christmas traditions: do you come from a family that opens presents all at once, or one a time? Do you have a real tree or a fake tree? Honor your Chanukah traditions: applesauce, sour cream, or both? Do you light the candles from left to right, or right to left?
Share with your partner these traditions and ask them theirs. Engage in the acts of the past and create new rituals with those in your life now. Be present in this last period of the year where we can all truly come together, bask in the lights all around us, and hope that that light can carry us forward into 2025.
Some fun Christmas/Chanukah combinations:
Make latkes on Christmas morning for breakfast!
Turn off the Christmas lights as you light the menorah, and then turn them back on once you finish saying the blessing! After all, Chanukah is the “festival of lights”!
Decorate your tree or wreath with some Chanukah imagery!
Bake and decorate cookies—both menorahs and trees!
Give tzedakah to Toys for Tots or a similar organization that provides gifts to children during the holiday season
Keep the Advent calendar going and open a treat for each night of Chanukah!
Have some candy canes, as well as gelt, in the pot for a game of dreidel!
Display your menorah, as well as Christmas candles, in your window!
Author: Maris Rosenfeld, outreach coordinator at SHALVA, who’s favorite Christmas movie is a tie between Love Actually and The Holiday
