Each year, right after Thanksgiving, there always seems to be an explosion of Christmas cheer. Christmas cheer comes in many forms: the music played on the radio, the commercials on television advertising the hottest new toys and deals, the decorations in the storefronts and the countless Christmas movies.
Yes, Christmas is important. So important that ABC family feels that they need to countdown to 25 days Christmas, but what about the people celebrating Hanukkah? Do Jewish people not like music, toys, decorations or movies, because there is nothing ever advertised about Hanukkah?
As I sit in my room, I cannot help but to listen to my suitemates blast through their speakers Taylor Swifts Christmas album, Sounds of the Seasons, or my personal favorite Christmas song by Lady GaGa, called “Christmas Tree”. As I begin to sing along to the song, it dawns on me that I somewhat feel out of place. It’s Hanukkah and rather then singing about my holiday, I’m singing about someone else’s. Why is this? Oh wait, that right, there are no real Hanukkah songs!!! Other then The Dreidel Song, which is more like a short poem sung to a tune, there really isn’t anything!
We all know that Santa brings toys to every child on Christmas as long as they weren’t on Santa’s naughty list. Starting even before Thanksgiving, commercials on TV advertise the newest and coolest toys. However, why is it that every commercial has to cater towards people celebrating Christmas? Do little Jewish kids not like to receive presents also? Apparently the people who create these don’t think so. One would think, based the stereotype that all Jews are rich, that the people who create these advertisement would want to also advertise these items for Hanukkah as well, since Jews would have the money to buy the product. Personally, I think this is poor planning on their part.
There are also never any Hanukkah holiday decorations. Every time I go to any store for either Hanukkah gift-wrap, cards, or cute little decorations to put around the house, there is either an extremely tiny section or nothing at all. Yet, everything Christmas is available. Stores have aisle upon aisles of Christmas decorations. Jews want to decorate too. We may not have trees or Christmas lights on our houses, but I wouldn’t mind a little more section to decorate a Hanukkah bush!!!
ABC Family has a countdown to Christmas with a new Christmas movie every night. Well Hanukkah is eight days long and I never see them advertise a countdown to Hanukkah, or eight days of Hanukkah movies played. In fact, the only Hanukkah movie I can actually recall is Eight Crazy Nights, with Adam Sandler and that movie sucked.
All I’m saying is that people celebrating Christmas get all the goods. Good music, advertisements, decorations and movies! It makes us Jews feel a little left out!
