For some local families, like the Goldsteins, the Richards and the Stones, celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas offers the best of both worlds.
Monica Richard family likes to call it “Christmaskah” when the two holidays overlap. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day celebration commemorating victory and provision for the Jewish people. Unlike Christmas, the dates of Hanukkah, which are based on the Jewish lunar calendar, fluctuate from year to year. This year, Hanukkah began at sundown Dec. 7 and lasts through sundown Dec. 15.
“I admit, I like it when it’s Christmaskah,” Richard said.
This year, Richard’s son and daughter are at college during Hanukkah, but she said she sent them back to school after Thanksgiving break with her grandparents’ menorah.
Susan Corona-Stone prefers it when the holidays don’t overlap, although she decorates for both equally. Corona-Stone is Catholic, and her husband, Terry, is Jewish. Both coming from families of strong faith, neither ever had a desire to convert, and neither pressured the other to do so.
When their son and daughter were young, Terry and Susan knew they wanted to raise them in a faith tradition, but they weren’t quite sure of the best way to go about it. Corona-Stone asked her brother, a retired Catholic priest, for advice.
“’Don’t try to raise them in both religions when they’re little,’” she said her brother told her. “Pick one, and they can choose when they are grown.”
Deciding to raise them Jewish, the Stone family went to temple often. The children attended Hebrew School at synagogue, learning to read Hebrew and understand the scriptures. Both celebrated their bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah.
“We’ve always had a Christmas tree, though,” Corona-Stone said. “My husband, never growing up with a Christmas tree, always had to have the biggest one we could find.”
On their front door, they hang a wreath that reads, “Merry Christmas,” along with a banner that reads, “Happy Hanukkah.”
“For me, that (Terry) had that much respect for me and my religion and let me bring my own faith into our home is huge,” Corona-Stone said. “That’s part of what made our home work. The message in our home is that we believe in God, and we believe in the power of prayer.”
Brooke Goldstein grew up Christian. Her husband Rick is Jewish, and they have raised their son and daughter in the Jewish faith much as the Stones have.
“We really put a lot of emphasis on the reason for Hanukkah,” Goldstein said. “It’s our tradition that every night we read a book about Hanukkah.”
When their kids were younger, Rick would even go to school with dreidels for all the students and teach them how to play the traditional Hanukkah game.
The Goldsteins have what they call a “Hanukkah bush” that they decorate with blue lights and blue and silver ornaments, but they also hang some special Christmas ornaments that belonged to Brooke growing up.
“We practiced Judaism at our house, but we also celebrated Christian holidays with my family,” Goldstein said. “We like that we’ve raised them around my family, too, so that they have that perspective.”
Terry Stone summed up the feelings of all three families.
“We’re open to diversity,” he said. “Frankly, it’s made our lives richer.”
A movement on social media, #projectmenorah, aims to invite those of other faiths to celebrate Hanukkah. To learn more about Hanukkah, go to myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-2023.
