Here is a holiday story written by my mom when I was a wee lass.
Chanukah, Christmas, Christmas, Chanukah, by Susan Trachtenberg
A little girl named Sarah lives in the city with her mother, her father and her big brother Josh. They are Jewish. On Friday Nights, the little girl's mother lights the Shabbos (Sabbath) candles and says a blessing; she also bakes a delicious challah with poppy seeds on top and roasts a whole chicken. Her daddy stands and sings the kaddush, a special Sabbath prayer said over delicious sweet Jewish wine. Sarah loves just to sip a little bit of the wine; it is sweet and strong. Sometimes she takes a little piece of challah and dips it into the wine, a special treat she invented.
Sarah is only four, and since she has always been Jewish, she likes it. She likes the wine, she likes the challah, she likes the candle sticks, she likes some of the songs that Josh and her parents sing in Hebrew.
But then that time of year comes-- you know what time I mean. DECEMBER! December has a Jewish Holiday in it--Chanukah. It's OK. You get to light candles and get presents and eat potato pancakes. And play with dreidels. It's pretty nice.
But on TV there is the Grinch that Stole Christmas, the Mickey Mouse Christmas Special, and all other kinds of things, all about Christmas. And Sarah's friends at school believe in Santa Claus, a fat guy who comes down the chimney and gives you presents if you're good. It seems that all the kids who aren't Jewish get lots and lots of presents. And worst of all, they get to have a CHRISTMAS tree in their HOUSE! It always has lights and candy canes and fancy stuff on it. Sometimes it has wood guitars, or little brass trumpets. It's beautiful.
And when you turn on the radio, you hear Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. And in school it's Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.
No wonder Sarah is jealous. So without telling anybody, not even Josh, Sarah has a secret Christmas tree in her room. She finds a little evergreen tree in her back yard. She brings it into her room. She puts it in her closet where no one can see it, and she decorates it. Secretly, late at night, she makes special decorations for it, hearts and flowers and stars and even an angel. She uses magic markers and glue, and even glitter. And she is very very careful to clean up, especially the glitter part. It is her very own secret Christmas tree. She wakes up very early in the morning to see it. But it doesn't have any lights. So she shines her flashlight on it.
This all happens when Sarah is four.
After December is over, Sarah sadly throws away her Christmas tree, and the year starts again. January, February, March, spring comes, summer, all the good parts of the year like the summer, when she learns to swim. And Sarah starts to realize some things. She is Jewish, and lots of her friends are half Jewish. They have a Jewish mother and a Christian father, or a Jewish father and a Christian mother. But they do things that Jewish people are not supposed to do, like eat ham and pork.
Sarah sees Josh singing Hebrew songs with their mother. They play records and celebrate other Jewish holidays.
The December comes again.
December, the month full of trouble------
Christmas this and Christmas that and Christmas everything. Sarah has announced: I won't watch the Mickey Mouse Christmas Special; it's not kosher. Her mommy and daddy laugh and laugh. It's OK, Sarah, you can watch it. It's OK to be Jewish and watch that stuff. It's OK to be Jewish during Christmas. We can go to our friends Carol and Peter's and help them decorate their tree. Don't worry, we'll still celebrate Chanukkah, and we'll always be Jewish no matter what.
Sarah felt much better. She didn't want a secret Christmas tree in her room.
And guess what. For the first night of Chanukah, she got her own little brass menorah.
"Can I keep it in my room?" she asked.
"Of course," said her mommy. And there it stayed.