I've enjoyed reading the various links, but the Santa Claus part surprised me, too, Pam. In our household, Santa, Rudolph, and elves are just as religious as the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy, and the Great Pumpkin (okay, so I always liked Charlie Brown
). They just aren't religious symbols. I like driving through town and seeing all the beautiful lights, though.
I knew about Purim since the last chapter of Esther explains why it is celebrated on one day in the city and another day in the country, so I wasn't surprised to read that Chanukah isn't "a very important religious holiday. The holiday's religious significance is far less than that of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavu'ot. It is roughly equivalent to Purim in significance" (
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm).
Nonetheless, I always thought of Chanukah as the Jewish equivalent of Christmas--not because of the reason the holiday was celebrated, but in terms of the secular add-ons of feasting, decorating the home, and gift-giving. After all, in Christianity, Christmas is of less religious significance than Easter, but that has nothing to do with the secular celebration, which is huge for Christmas and fairly small for Easter. So I'm sorry if I got that completely wrong.
Anyway, Paul and Rivka, some of us Christians feel the same way about the relentless pushing of Santa and Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman and buy-buy-buy, spend-spend-spend that seems to be the main message of Christmas in America. But at moments I feel more of the spirit of love and joy when strangers smile instead of scowl, say "Merry Christmas" instead of pushing rudely past, empty their change into the Salvation Army pots, and deliver Christmas dinners to poor people.
And did I mention that I like the pretty lights?
