Well, being Jewish, this time of year is kind of weird for us. Hanukkah isn't the same as a Jewish Christmas and I really do believe that to celebrate it as such just convinces people that that's what it really is. It's actually quite a minor holiday. Our biggies are Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur and Passover. I personally love Sukkot which is the festival of the booths and everyone builds a little hut in their yard with something like a thatched roof that you can see the stars through in the fall. It's an 8 day festival like Hanukkah but BIGGER in significance and really fun since you build your sukkah (the booth) and then have dinner parties in it all week long. Decorating it is half the fun...lots of autumny decorations and lights. I adore this holiday.

My husbands family though is Italian Catholic and so on Christmas Eve we go there for the big festival of the fishes! Its loud and hot and you get to see everyone you miss all year long.

This is not to say we dont exchange gifts at Hanukkah - just small ones. We actually have always exchanged gifts on New Years Eve. Its gotten harder as we have made more friends because now we want to go spend NYE with them so sometimes the gifts wait a bit. And lately we have also been taking a trip to Disney around the end of January although I think this year may be the last for a while as my DH will be on the list for a heart transplant soon!

Hanukkah traditions though are making latkes and eating doughnuts which are traditional in Israel. We light the menorah and play dreidel. Every night there is a gift. This year though we will do 7 nights of gifts and then one night will be devoted to tzedakah (charity). On Christmas Day, we go do Mitzvah Day. "Mitzvah" means "commandment" and so you go do good deeds that Gd asks us to do. This year we're going to spend the morning with residents at a nursing home in Squirrel Hill. After that we have a tradition of meeting friends and doing Chinese, then a movie (or vice versa) and ending up at their house playing games into the night. I usually take the next day off and we head out to find some bargains.

Its different but its a lot of fun. :thumbup:

I love learning about others traditions, thanks for sharing! How have I missed Sukkot all these years?...my best friend through H.S. was Jewish, but I don't remember them building a hut...I had to look this one up...How fun!!! Latkes...my dad calls them Kartoffelpuffer (German potato pancakes) and my DH-Mr.SA loves to make them (we call him "Mr. Potato Head" he loves them so much)...probably another thing I can't have post-op, oh well :-)