Oy Christmas Tree…

My daughter and I are complete Christmas junkies.  Miss M's radio station of choice right now is 103.5, which plays ONLY Christmas music from Thanksgiving through December 25th.  We've already been to one giant public Christmas Tree lighting, where we sang carols, oohed and aaahed at the giant pine, and strained to see Santa.  We have plans for at least two more (oops, one more — turns out we just missed the Burbank tree lighting), and we never miss going to Disneyland for Christmastime, where we proudly wear our matching Mickey and Minnie Santa hats.  This week we've watched The Year Without a Santa Claus and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and spent nights driving around gaping in awe at the holiday lights in everyone's yard.

Have I mentioned we're Jewish?

I know there's a movement called Jews for Jesus.  That's not me.

But I'm totally a Jew for Santa.

I love love LOVE the trappings of Christmas, and every year I'm tempted to bring more and more of them into our Hanukkah.  Not that I don't love Hanukkah as it is, I do.  And we do it up — we have beautiful menorahs, we play dreidel, we make latkes (if by "make" you mean "heat up Trader Joe's"), we bust out the chocolate gelt…

…but we also hang icicle lights on the house.  Blue and white ones — very Hanukkah.  And I have no qualms about it because Hanukkah is "The Festival of Lights."  It fits, big time.

I've always drawn the line at a tree though.  Despite the fact that the tree comes not from the bible but from ancient solstice festivals, I still had a gut reaction that having a tree was just too Christmas.  I always satisfied my conifer lust by visiting friends and helping them decorate their trees; that did the trick.

Until this year.

I don't know what it is.  It could be the gorgeous Hanukkah tinselly garland I found — blue and silver, with glittery menorahs and Stars of David; it could be the ornaments Miss M made at Color Me Mine; it could just be my sick desire to have one more thing on my to-do list… but for the first time ever, I'm seriously considering a Hanukkah Tree.

Not a big one, mind you.  For some reason in my twisted little head, size matters.  A big tree, that would be weird.  I'm talking about a little tree.  Maybe two, three feet tall.  Four feet, tops.  With a blue tree skirt, the Hanukkah garland, blue and silver ornament balls, a Hanukkah tree topper (check out the picture — they exist!)…it would be really pretty.  And very festive.

Miss M's on board big-time.  My husband isn't sure, but he's not against it.  Out of curiosity I brought it up at a meeting the other day with a producer-friend who's very religious.  I wondered if he'd take issue with a non-Christmas-celebrant co-opting the tree, but he loved the idea.  He's a big mythology buff, so he's all about the tree's ties to ancient Greek and Roman celebrations.  The Greek/Roman tie?  It makes Miss M want to have a tree even more, since she's a HUGE Percy Jackson fan.

I'm still on the fence, but if I do it, I'll do it soon.  And I'll post pictures.  Probably of Riley sitting by the tree in his reindeer ears.  Did I mention he has reindeer ears?  He looks REALLY cute in his reindeer ears.

Gotta toss it to you.  Whatever winter holiday you celebrate, are there decorative trappings you put up every year?  Do you have a tree?  Do you greedily inhale and revel in the glitter and baubles of the season (like me), or do you cringe in anticipation of them, and breathe a sigh of relief when they start coming down on January 2?

As always, I look forward to your thoughts!