Chanukah and Christmas

 Chanukah and Christmas

It is about this time of the year when the temperatures drop, layers of clothes begin to multiply and those familiar mantras begin to make their presence felt. This morning it felt like the coldest day you'd ever experienced and yet it was bracing and delightful. But then we remembered where we were and just turned up the heating full blast. We're not going out again today because it's freezing cold and you'd be well advised to stay indoors, add to your ever expanding collection of Christmas presents to your families and friends and watch the commercial adverts on TV because they're just hilariously topical.

So you do venture out of your home eventually because you've got to get out since nothing will ever be completed if you just start chilling out and loafing about the dining room lethargically. Maybe we're off to our local gym, converging on Costa lot of coffees, skinny lattes and heart warming mugs of hot chocolate topped off with delicious marshmallows and a sprinkling of more chocolate. 

This is the point where we become acutely aware of those two perennial, religious festivals that bring everybody together. Next week Judaism gives us the gift of Chanukah, the festival of lights where the menorah(candlestick holder) and all the lovely Jews devour doughnuts, hundreds of them, thousands of them, latkes(potato cakes) and everything that is full of sugar and excessively savoury. We do it because we love the joys of over indulgence, the freedom to eat everything that would normally be considered bad for you and detrimental to your health. But it only happens once a year so it can't do you any harm.

Across the whole of the Christian community we have our old friend back by the warmly domestic log or electric fire. It returns every year without fail and has done so quite loyally throughout the ages. It's the holiday time of the year but not the one where you rummage through your suitcases for more bottles of sun factor suntan cream that prevents us from burning in the hot sunshine. No, this is the holiday where everybody plants a decorative tree in the corner of the living room, throws tinsel and glitter over it and declares it's Christmas again.

Yes folks. Here we are on December 2nd and, with over three weeks to go before the big day, Christmas becomes overwhelming, all conquering, all embracing and just too much for some. It keeps us totally pre-occupied, consumes our every waking thoughts and generally turns us into quivering wrecks of desperation and panic. In fact Christmas becomes the one festival and celebration-cum holiday that some dread and then fall into a totally unnecessary depression.  Rather than get excited though about a forthcoming event that is supposed to be hugely enjoyable and exhilarating, we just slump in our sofas and just close our eyes.

And yet hundreds and thousands of years after Joseph was born to Jesus and Mary, Christmas dawns rather like that unwelcome impostor at a private party. We're supposed to be overjoyed at the prospect of seeing parents, grandparents, nieces, cousins, uncles, aunts because we haven't seen them for at least a year or was it yesterday, possibly five minutes ago. Even now you can hear the grumbles of dissatisfaction, the ever increasing complaints about a lack of mince pies in the cupboard and no mulled wine for those partial to a drop of festive alcohol.

But the close proximity of Christmas and Chanukah often feels quite ironic because both are dedicated to brightness and visually spectacular colour. Across the road in Finsbury Park, the Christmas tree shop has already opened for business and there's a plenty of fir in the air. In a way both Christmas and Chanukah bear remarkable similarities to each other but only Christmas seems to get preferential treatment when the TV adverts take over the commercial mainstream.

Of course the year is rapidly approaching its end and religion seems to enjoy a heart warming prominence in our daily lives from now onwards. Today probably marks the beginning of that gruelling and punishing journey where we acknowledge that jolly old gentleman with a white beard and red coat. Now we know Santa Claus is probably half way between the Arctic and most of the Nordic countries. We've all heard about Santa's  amazing stamina and longevity, that legendary ho-ho laugh, the celebrated reindeers in Lapland forests and eventually that thrilling tumble down the chimney, directly onto a carpet or laminated floor.

There are notable differences of course such as the Chanukah dreidel( a cute spinning top with letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the arrival of divine doughnuts with jam, custard, chocolate and a light dusting of sugar, the fancy dress parties that our children and grandchildren always get very energetic and animated over. Chanukah is indeed the festival of lights, eight nights of superlative fun, piling on unlimited stones, pounds and calories before generally feeling ever so bloated, full to bursting point and wishing you hadn't because guilty pleasures are just forbidden.

So here we are it's Chanukah and Christmas almost but not quite overlapping with each other. It is time to get cosy and comfortable with our lovely families and our gorgeous grandson. We'll be accompanied by my wonderful brother and wife, their now fast growing children. This is the first weekend countdown to the global, end of year feasting, fressing, carousing and cavorting.We may regret our hearty appetites because the weight will just increase quite distressingly and it'll take for ever to get rid of it.

 Shortly we'll be re-acquainted with our superb board games such as Trivial Pursuit or Monopoly and we'll wonder at the head spinning commercialism, the exorbitant sums of money we've spent on food, drink and then we'll just sleep for a while after the traditional turkey, roast potatoes and vegetables before cramming a Christmas pudding into our mouths. We'll watch the new King Charles the Third's Christmas Day speech and reminisce fondly on the last 12 months. It's been a good one because it always has been the case because we have. We can't  control the obscenities of violent wars and political unrest but we're all we've witnessed history in the making at some point our lives. We've been here before on so many occasions that we knew it would pan out like this.

But its Chanukah and Christmas and some of us can hardly believe how the year has flown away and didn't even pause for breath. Time can march past us so quickly and breathlessly that by the time we get to December it feels like the transitions of the seasons have just left us dumbfounded. So if you do treat yourself to the roast chestnuts from the brazier who regularly turns up outside the British Museum or just wander through the glorious piazzas of Covent Garden, then remember the winter festivals that always meant so much to us. Enjoy everybody. Life is indeed beautiful.