How Many Days to Hanukah?

 

It’s pretty sad but the only reason I know Hanukah is coming is because a plastic menorah is now sitting on the front desk of my building.   None of the candles are illuminated yet but it must be happening soon.

Growing up in Yeadon, Hanukah always seemed a poor substitute for Christmas to me, especially when compared to what when on down the street where Anna May Heritage lived.    Anna May’s parents were older than mine and she had an older married brother and a “maiden aunt” who lived with them.  The result of having all those adults around was that she was showered with presents at holiday time,  a fact that made me green with envy.  I’d walk in her house and be overwhelmed by the mountain of presents under the tree,  all I imagined for Anna May.  Her mom and her aunt would be in the kitchen making dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies.  Every surface in the house was covered with cookies and candies, all red and green and smelling very delicious.

Back at 850 Church Lane, my mom tried her best to make our Hanukah compete with Anna May’s Christmas.  She hung a Happy Hanukah sign in the dining room; she baked cookies in the shape of Jewish stars and dreidels and even constructed and iced one big one to look like a menorah.  We lit the candles every night, sang songs and got eight separate presents, a fact I emphasized to all my non Jewish school mates every morning.  Bah humbug!  Somehow it still felt like we were missing something.

The other side of the coin was the intense scorn I felt for those Jews who celebrated Christmas.  No way was a Christmas tree going up in any house I lived in, let alone a stupid “Hanukah Bush.”  Christmas was for Christians and we weren’t.  Anyway how dumb was it to buy all that stuff at retail prices when you could wait for the after Christmas sales and save.  

The closest my family ever came to traditionally celebrating the holidays was when we got all dressed up and went out to some fancy downtown restaurant to celebrate my parents’ birthdays--my mom’s on Christmas Eve and my dad’s the day after.  If anyone asked, I was very vocal about why we there--for birthdays NOT Christmas.