Christmas

After the world got over its little "Le Freak-" out about the end of the world, we made it to Christmas!

Although I personally don't celebrate Christmas, I thoroughly love the holiday season, of which Christmas is the epicenter.

I love the houses decked out in "Lights," the cinnamon- and gingerbread-flavored everything, and the music that enchants people this time of year.

The loop of Christmas music that has been playing in stores since the day after Thanksgiving may be old by now, but I can't deny the smile that my Christmas music Pandora station puts on my face; it makes me feel like I'm in a feel-good holiday movie as I walk down the street bundled in my boots and my scarf swaying in the chilly air.

And what better way to celebrate than to visit the National Christmas Tree itself? Though not on Christmas, my family and I went to go see the tree when they were in town recently. When we got to the lawn by the White House, we learned that there are trees for every state surrounding the large tree and the ornaments on each small tree, decorated according to what makes that state unique, came from various student organizations that hail from that specific state. We were "Rockin' Around [a whole bunch of] Christmas trees" and we got to see the national Santa too. Good thing though that when "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" he never stops at my house, I don't think I could take the pressure of his list!

But I like to make my own lists, and on my list of favorite Christmas songs, which I did check twice of course, are: "The Christmas Song," "All I Want for Christmas is You," and "Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer."

I love The Christmas Song because it is so beautiful and simple. It is soothing, making you feel safe and cozy; while at the same time evoking a sense of reflection and melancholy, longing for the scene that Nat King Cole has set.

All I Want for Christmas is a modern classic, and so is Mariah Carey. Who else can hit that piercing high note at the end of the song without making you cringe, and instead awing you with her unmatched talent? This song just puts you in a good mood, makes you want to sing and dance along. My sister even used it as a ringtone one year during Christmas. Jewish, Christian, or anyone else cannot help but enjoy this song.

Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer is a song my childhood friends and I used to sing (and let's not forget most of these girls were Jewish too). I distinctly remember a car-ful of us in one of the mom's vans, driving her nuts and somewhere I can't remember, singing this song on repeat. We would take turns getting to be the one to sing the interjections of the kids version of the song. You know, "all of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names, LIKE PINOCCHIO, they never let poor Rudolf join in any reindeer games, LIKE MONOPOLY..." I do think it was the interjections that made this song extra fun as a child, but now I also like it for its message of individuality and self-worth.

Christmas music is the epitome of memories like this one, great times spent with family and friends. I hope you have had a wonderful holiday and have made new memories to last you until next year. I could continue on about the wonders of Christmas, but I would be here until New Year's. For now I'll just say Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Chanukah

The other day in my office some people decided it was too quiet, and we needed some holiday music to liven things up a bit. And by "holiday music," they meant Christmas songs. A few songs into the playlist, the designated DJ for the day turned around and called out to me: "don't worry, Lecia. I've got Adam Sandler's Hanukkah Song coming up next for you!"

I was excited, but that's where Chanukah songs begin and end. Sort of.

For some reason, in a religion and culture where music pervades everything, we are seriously lacking in the "holiday" music department.

Now, to be fair, Chanukah is not the Jewish equivalent of Christmas, in fact, it's one of our more minor holidays. But because it lands around Christmas time, the two are always compared, and "when you feel like the only kid in town without a Christmas tree," well, too bad; here are the songs we're stuck with:

You can go with the classic songs we all learned in Hebrew school: "Chanukah oh Chanukah" or "I Have a Little Dreidel." But let's face it, dancing the Hora isn't quite the same as rocking around the Christmas tree. And who ever made a dreidel out of clay? Seriously.

Then there are always the traditional songs in Hebrew, for the preservation of our heritage: "Ma Otzur" and "Sivivon Sov sov sov." Be honest, though, you learned the words at one point, but have forgotten most of them since, and now sort of just mumble through half the songs because it sounds the same anyway.

Aside from the Adam Sandler Hanukkah Songs 1, 2 and 3, there have not been many songs written about Chanukah that don't sound like they came from the shtetl. The one other one, that's actually very catchy once you get into it, was written a couple of years ago by a college a capella group, cleverly named the Maccabeats. "Candlelight" is about as cool as us Jews get this time of year.

Ok, ok, I know I'm ragging on my holiday a bit, but putting the lack of competitive holiday music aside, the story behind Chanukah is pretty amazing. It is about a miracle after all. Nes gadol haya sham: a great miracle happened there. We're reminded of it blatantly when we spin the dreidle (that we may or may not have made out of clay) adorned with nun, gimmel, hay and shin, the Hebrew letters that begin each word in the phrase.

We're reminded of it subconsciously when we stuff our faces with latkes and suf ganiyot (also known as jelly doughnuts), both made in oil, the oil that lasted 8 days when it should have only lasted a short while.

And we're reminded of it as we light the menorah for eight days, each night reliving another part of the miracle.

So maybe our songs aren't that great, but our story and traditions sure are. With that, I leave you with a song from one of the greatest musicals, Fiddler on the Roof: "Tradition." While Tevye learns to relinquish some of his traditions to fit in with the world, we can take a step away from the world for these 8 days and relish in the music of our history.

Happy Chanukah!!