The winter holiday season can be a challenging time for Jewish families and multifaith families alike. Just after Thanksgiving, and sometimes even before, most cities around the U.S. light up with a full display of the “holiday” season…Christmas. As a Jew born into a Jewish family who is raising a Jewish family, this can sometimes cause conflicted feelings, frustration, and guilt from the deluge of sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas juxtaposed to the more low-key nature of Chanukah. As a multifaith family, with Judaism in the mix, this can be even more complicated… especially when the observance of Chanukah and Christmas occur simultaneously. While 2021 didn’t present this unique challenge, the holidays will overlap again in 2022 and many years moving forward.  

Sometimes, you may hear the challenges presented during this season as December Dilemma, December Holiday Decision Making, or some other descriptor noting the confounded nature of the duality of Chanukah and Christmas. We have decided to approach this conversation through the lens of navigating Multifaith Living – both internally in family units and externally in our larger communities. No matter its naming construct, we hope the information and resources shared