Should “Happy Hanukkah” be used as weapon against those who assault us with hostile holiday greetings?

Whenever I encounter one of those types of people who insists on using “Merry Christmas!” as a form of cultural intimidation, there’s a part of me that is tempted to turn to my step-mother for a retort.

Chicago's public menorah from five years ago can create split reactions, regardless of its actual intent. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

As in every “Merry Christmas” I hear coming from someone who is inclined to take Donald Trump’s “War on Christmas” rants seriously, I’d respond with a fake cheery “Happy Hanukkah!”

I DON’T ACTUALLY do that in part because it strikes me as tacky to use my step-mother’s religious faith to score political partisan points against the nitwits of our society. It would make me no better than those who want to use “Merry Christmas” as a weapon.

I bring this up because the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah actually began Tuesday night and will continue into next week.

And with my step-mother being Jewish (my father is a late-life convert), it means the time of year to recall the survival of the Maccabees in the face of elements of society that would just as soon have seen them exterminated is once again upon us.

Now in my own family, the little kids are growing up. So there’s not as much pressure any more to indulge my nieces and nephews with lots of presents so that they don’t feel cheated compared to their school friends for whom Christmas is the thing!

Do people notice holiday decorations when passing through the airport en route to a sunnier locale?

IN FACT, IN my parents’ household, most of the eight days will be marked with the lighting of the candles, a prayer in Hebrew, and little else.

There will be one night of various relatives coming over to the household for something of a party – whose primary purpose it will seem like is consuming the potato pancakes referred to as latkes.

Gary, Ind., govt. brightens their chambers

Much of this, I’ll admit, is lost on me. I was baptized many decades ago by a Catholic priest and personally haven’t felt any need to change.

But that isn’t held against me. I’m likely to be included in any celebration as we recall the old story of how a Godly miracle enabled the Maccabees’ oil intended to last one night actually kept their lamps lit for eight nights.

THE REASON WHY the menorahs include eight branches in their candelabrums – and why a fully-lit menorah has the potential to be a fire hazard if the celebrants get too clumsy.

All of which has just enough of a solemn effect on me to refuse to use “Happy Hanukkah” as a retort to the less-than-solemn “Merry Christmas” talk I have heard in recent days. I’d like to think I’m better than those people who want to turn the Christmas holiday and the birth of Christ that it celebrates into a weapon touting the omnipresent existence of Trump that they’d like to impose on our society.

Because I know it would be the perfect retort in that it would force those ideologues whose use of religious symbolism to tout their beliefs borders on being as offensive as the Ku Klux Klan’s uses of the cross to tout their own racist rants to have to acknowledge that theirs is NOT the only holiday in this winter season.

While I’ll be the first to admit that some of the efforts to equate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa (don’t forget the “aa” at the end) and whatever other festival one can dream up do become absurd, I’ve never felt the need to tout my own thoughts over everybody else’s.

LARGELY BECAUSE I have viewed much of religious-inspired thought as a personal one. It is something we ought to be celebrating internally.

There’s nothing wrong with sharing. But feeling the need to force one’s thoughts or celebration on others just seems wrong.

Just as it can be confusing at times when someone feels the need to say “Merry Christmas” to every single person they encounter. Are they just overly cheerful? Or are they making a politically-partisan statement that requires a retort?

Quite honestly, I resent having to try to interpret every holiday greeting to figure out if the call for sharing and celebration is more intended as an excuse to act as society’s religious-motivated bullies.

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Happy holidaze! Now get your behind away from the Internet, have a real life!

We’re in a pretty intense holiday weekend; not only is it Christmas Eve and Day, it’s also the beginning of the Eight Days of Hanukkah and we’ll soon be in Kwanzaa.

Best wishes to you if you happened to have chance to pass this holiday decoration on your way out of town for the weekend. Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

A holiday for just about any faith or occasion one would want to celebrate. And boy, do we need it.

FOR WE WENT through a hellish campaign cycle that particularly dragged out the ugliest of tensions that separate us in our society. We definitely need something all around to alleviate such hostile feelings – particularly for those who saw the final election results come out this week and still can’t get over the fact that Hillary Clinton could clean Donald Trump’s clock by some 2.9 million votes.

And still lose!!!

So it is with even stronger-than-usual feelings that I say anybody actually reading this commentary on Saturday or Sunday needs to get a life. Log off the computer or whatever device you happen to be using to access the Internet and go do something in the real world. Celebrate. Be merry, jolly or downright joyful.

There is nothing that will be in the blogosphere during this holiday weekend of any great significance that you can’t wait until Monday to read all about it.

ALTHOUGH FOR THOSE of you who just need to see something visual before logging off for the day, I’m digging out a couple of audio/video links on off-beat Christmas-themed songs.

It's also the beginning of Hanukkah on Saturday. Or does mentioning that fact constitute "war" on X-mas (whose spelling that way is the truly offensive act).

I always get a kick out of hearing Chuck Berry’s take on “Merry Christmas, Baby.” I always find Celia Cruz’ Spanish-language version of “Jingle Bells” (“Soy Feliz en la Navidad,” when translated en Español) to be cheerful.

Then there’s always that old cartoon take of “Hardrock, Coco and Joe” that many of us Chicago natives remember seeing as kids while watching “Ray Rayner and Friends” on television just before the holidays.

I pick it because it was always a particular favorite of my brother Christopher, whose lack of presence in my life the past year continues to leave a sore spot for me emotionally.

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Moving Christmas tree closer to people rather than pols; what about menorah?

In a certain sense, it makes sense for Chicago’s official Christmas holiday tree to move from its current location in the Daley Plaza.

This scene from 2013 won't be returning to Daley Plaza come December. Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

That location puts the city’s giant tree within sight of the Daley Center courthouse and the Cook County Building, while being within a quick walk of City Hall and the Thompson Center state government building.

IN SHORT, THE perfect spot for all of the city’s politically-oriented people to have the tree within their sightline, or close by for their thoughts.

Considering that our politicos often think they are the center of the universe (and consider those people with little to no interest in politics or government to be subversives), it is no wonder that the tree has been in the same place for virtually every year since 1966.

The Chicago Tribune reported that there was one holiday season (1982) when the city set up the official tree at State Street and Wacker Drive – although I honestly have no recollection of that moment (even though I was 17 and was very much city-based back then – I left for college in Bloomington, Ill., and Washington, D.C. the following year).

Considering that I was born in ’65 (yes, I turned a half-century old a couple of months ago), it isn’t an exaggeration for me to say that the holiday tree is a life-long tradition for me.

Picasso seems so lonely the rest of year

YOU CHECK OUT the holiday decorations set up on State Street in the department store windows, then venture over to the Daley Plaza to see the tree.

Although in recent years, there has been that German-themed Christmas village set up in the space around the city’s official tree. They even set up the city’s official Hanukkah menorah right by.

It has become a festive city tradition, and one that makes the Picasso statue also located in the Daley Plaza seem so naked the rest of the year with nothing but the pigeons surrounding it.

But that will be no more beginning with this holiday season. For city officials announced this week that when they erect the city’s official tree on Nov. 24, it will be in Millennium Park.

NOT AMONGST THE political people. But at a location where they hope it will attract even more public attention. Technically, it will now have a Michigan Avenue address; rather than a Clark Street one.

Will the city menorah move with the tree?

Although since it will now be near the Maggie Daley Park, one could argue that the city will still use the Daley name as the location for official city holiday celebrations.

There also is the fact that the city has an ice rink nearby, and there will be the vision of people being able to skate and slip on the ice before checking out a giant, 55-foot-tall tree (usually a spruce or a fir).

The kind of Christmas holiday celebration that could wind up appearing on postcards that bear the official symbol of city recognition.

UNLIKE THE PAST celebrations which had an ice rink one block to the east back in the day when Block 37 was vacant and officials set up a temporary ice rink each winter so as to make the downtown location seem just a little less decrepit than it had become.

So what should we think of this shift? It is going to take some getting used to, although I suppose there is a younger generation that will think nothing of this move.

There even is a sense of history returning, as there once was a time when the official holiday tree was set up in Grant Park – dating back to the first city tree in 1913.

But for me, the occasions when I walk through Daley Plaza come December are going to seem a bit strange. The plaza in December without having to work one’s way through a maze caused by the Christmas village AND the holiday tree will seem deserted.

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Happy holidaze! Now log off and do something real to celebrate

This weblog has been in existence for just over seven years (Saturday was the anniversary date), and I’m going to use this post to deliver my usual holiday message – one I seriously believe.

If you’re actually reading this on Thursday, something is wrong. You need to log off your computer or smart phone or whatever device you’re using to access the Internet and find something in the real world to do.

THERE ARE TIMES I think our lives have become overtaken by these devices. There’s nothing you’d read on the Internet or on Facebook or Twitter on Christmas Day that couldn’t wait until Friday.

That is when serious commentary about the “great issues” of the day will return here. You all should find something joyous with which to occupy your time.

Even if Christmas is irrelevant to you. For those who finished celebrating Hanukkah two days ago, I hope you had a wonderful experience.

And for those of you who want to literally be the personification of Ebenezer Scrooge, go “Bah, Humbug!” to yourself before trying to find some pleasure on this one holiday that ought to be an excuse to find relief from the problems and pressures of our lives!

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EDITOR’S NOTE: For those of us of a certain age, watching the Ray Rayner Show around Christmas time meant catching these old holiday videos of “Suzy Snowflake,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “Hardrock, Coco and Joe.” Although my holiday gift to you is “Merry Christmas, Baby” by Otis Redding. I’ll acknowledge Chuck Berry also did a nice take on this song. But if you’d rather hear Elvis or Christina Aguilera, all I have to say is you’re lacking in holiday taste.

Happy Holidaze. Go do something real!

There won't be this Holiday bustle around Daley Plaza come Wednesday. Photograph by Gregory Tejeda

If it’s Wednesday the 25th and you’re actually reading this, I have but one thing to say. Get a Life!!!!!!

This is quite possibly the holiday of holidays. You ought to be out in the real world doing something enjoyable. The last thing you should be doing is logging yourself onto a computer (or any other kind of device) and paying any attention to the digital world.
 

THIS IS THE most analog of all holidays. Do something with others. Enjoy yourself. All the nonsense you think you’re going to read today will still be there on Thursday.

And as for many of those Twitter tweets and Facebook postings? Your life will probably be better off without them.

That’s why I’m not posting fresh commentary for Wednesday. It will return on the 26^th. It would probably take something along the lines of a Barack Obama/Rahm Emanuel brawl to inspire me to write on this holiday.

Actually, even that could probably wait until the Day after Christmas.

AS FOR THOSE of you who don’t celebrate Christmas (particularly those of you whose festive moods were satisfied a couple of weeks ago with Hanukkah), I also think you should find some relaxation in the real world.
 

Even if you live up to that stereotype of going to a movie theater, then hit a Chinese restaurant. That sounds like a fun afternoon to me!

On a final note, I’ll leave you with some holiday-related videos from our childhood – particularly those who have fond memories of the late Ray Rayner. As for those of you younger types who are going to mock the idea of black-and-white “cartoons,” I have but two things to say.
 

 

Take whatever device you use to access content and “Stuff it!’ And, “Kid, you don’t have a clue what you missed without the great Ray to kick off your morning every day before going to school.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: A trio of favorite holiday-related tunes (none of which involve barking dogs are the late Celia Cruz' take on "Jingle Bells," Chuck Berry's "Merry Christmas, Baby" and the future Catwoman's sultry tones on "Santa Baby." Enjoy!

 

Was it Thanksgiving? Or merely the first official shopping day of X-mas?

I don’t much care for what the Thanksgiving holiday has become.

Christmas on State Street ...

Because as much as I’m sure some people are going to respond to me by saying it was a chance to spend time with family while enjoying an elegant, overly-fancy meal together, I can’t help but sense that some people thought of it as merely the food they ate to give them sustenance before they went shopping.

YES, I REALLY believe that the Thanksgiving holiday is at risk of being overtaken by all the holiday shopping gimmicks meant to get people into the stores so that they will spend more money than they had planned to.

I don’t mean to be a downer. But I was always the reporter-type person whose least favorite work day was the day after Thanksgiving.

I have many memories of people engaging in ridiculous behavior because they thought the day after Thanksgiving was when they were supposed to go shopping for all those Christmas-related presents. Interviewing the guy who was selling velvet paintings of Elvis Presley from a van parked along Wabash Avenue near Randolph Street is probably the most garish.

But my point being I never comprehended the people who felt the need to rush into the holiday shopping mess. It makes the process of picking out gifts all the more hectic. Why turn it into a hassle?

FRIDAY WAS ALWAYS the day I went out of my way to avoid anything resembling a shopping mall or other place where retail was being performed. A part of me will even be reluctant to set foot in a supermarket on that day.

But now, with the trend of stores opening up on Thursday, it seems that I have a pair of days in which I will need to be careful – less I get sucked into the madness of crowds of people who don’t really have a clue what they want, but are looking to pick out things that will make them appear not to be cheap.

... has a certain character, regardless of when ...

Even though, in reality, they’re probably counting every penny they have (and some they really don’t have) all so they can be tightwads without looking the part.

It’s not so much that I don’t like crowds. I just don’t care for the vibe that comes from these people who feel that holiday shopping is a mission.

IT MAKES THEM all too susceptible to the deals that aren’t all that special. It is a scene I’d just as soon avoid. Even if that makes it seem as though I’m spouting a “Bah, Humbug!” or two.

... it occurs. Photos by Chuckman Chicago Nostalgia

In fact, if there’s anything about this particular holiday season that catches my attention, it’s the fact that Hanukkah is coming earlier than usual this year – and won’t coincide with Thanksgiving again for another 77,000 years or so.

Friday will be the third night (out of eight) of that Jewish holiday, and it is going to be long complete by the time the Christmas madness gets underway.

In my case, my step-mother is Jewish, and our Thanksgiving meal Thursday included a lighting of the candles at sundown that mark each day of the holiday. For some people, the concept of “Thanksgivikkah” was the reality.

ALTHOUGH FOR US, we’ve actually had enough family conflicts in schedules that the decision was made to postpone Hanukkah until mid-December.

So I have a couple of weeks to fret over finding the perfect presents for my Jewish nephews and nieces. Whom I care for too much to snub outright.

Which means I’ll have to wind up plunging myself into the retail madness of this holiday season.

My warning to you now; get out of my way, unless you want my elbow in your ribs!!!

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Holidays are meant to be enjoyed in real world, not on the Internet

Chicago's official Christmas tree. Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

If, by chance, you are reading this on Tuesday, all I have to say is, “Get a Life!” It's Christmas!

You need to log off your computer, or whatever other device you happen to be reading this weblog on – and get out into the real world on this holiday.

MAYBE I’M A bit too much of an “analog-type guy who sees all the flaws of the digital world that we’re all too rapidly becoming. But this ought to be that one magical time of the year when we get away from whatever screen we read or watch things off of to reflect upon the enlightened spirits in our lives.

The New Year holiday could be that moment of reflection – except that too many people are concerned with showing how much alcohol they can imbibe in to take such action seriously.

So for those of you who are celebrating, here’s hoping that you have a “Merry Christmas.” For those who don’t, I’m sure you could use a day off from the daily routines we all get stuck in.

 

The city's official Menorah remained in place even after Hanukkah was complete

For those who had their Hanukkah celebration a couple of weeks ago, I hope it was a very joyous occasion. I know it was for my father and step-mother and the other portion of my overall family who are Jewish.

Even political people felt the holiday spirit

AND FOR THOSE who came here to this weblog in search of commentary or analysis of Chicago, be rest assured that everything wrong with this city will still be here on Wednesday.

Any thoughts that could have been expressed here on Tuesday can wait a day!

 

I'm sure the people who want to go through life ranting against Rahm Emanuel or Barack Obama -- or crying over how the Chicago Cubs could be so awful for a century-and-still-counting -- will still feel their gripes just as intensely.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: For those of you who feel compelled to re-see Suzy Snowflake (my brother, Chris, usually makes a crude remark about her) and her black-and-white animated Christmas holiday friends, the Capitol Fax newsletter offers up a chance to reminisce about seeing them while watching Ray Rayner on early-morning television.
 

Only a Grinch sees a "war" between Christmas and other holidays

On the surface, it seems like a gesture of respect and equal time -- the giant menorah erected in Daley Plaza just a few dozen feet from the city's official Christmas tree.

For eight days, anyone passing through Chicago's unofficial public square can share in spirit of celebrating the Maccabees, who through a miracle of sorts managed to have their lamps with enough oilk for one night burn brightly for eight days.

IT'S NOT JUST Chicago that gives this conciliatory gesture to Jewish people.

Just this week, officials with the park district in Naperville approved the erection of a giant menorah next to the Santa House that is a local tradition. Park district officials gave in to the menorah even though their attorneys (according to the Daily Herald newspaper of Arlington Heights) were telling them there was some legal grounds for keeping the Santa House grounds Christmas-only.

So it won't just be downtown Chicago wehre people can share in the concept of Hanukkah. Others will be abel to watch in confusion or in anger as the various lights on top of the "candles" light up each night.

I suspect many people will be engaged in the hustle and bustle of the commercial aspects of the holiday season to pay these public menorahs much attention. Except for the few people who will perceive them as a "War on Christmas" because they'd rather everybody be forced to pay exclusive attention to the Christmas holiday.

THEY'RE THE ONES who probably remember fondly the episode of "The Simpsons" where Krusty the Klown's non-denominational winter holiday special told us to have a "Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Crazy Kwanzaa, Solemn and Dignified Ramadan and a Tip-Top Tet."

Yet I can't help but wonder about these giant menorahs and what point they really serve, other than to force certain political people to accept the fact that not everyone in this nation is of a Christian religious denomination.

I still remember a discussion I had a couple of decades ago with a co-worker who was Jewish. She told me she found the whole concept of a giant public menorah to be somewhat gaudy.

After all, the whole point of the menorah and the lighting of the candles on each of the eight days of the holiday (which this year began at sundown Friday and continues through the end of next week) is to create a moment in a Jewish household when everybody engages in the requisite prayers in Hebrew (even though for some Jewish people, those prayers are the only Hebrew they know) and pays a few moments tribute to the thought of the Maccabees of thousands of years ago who struggled to survive under odds that would have wiped out anyone else.

PUTTING UP THE large-scale versions of a menorah does border on crass. It's almost as tacky as some of those Santa Claus holiday displays erected in the name of Christmas -- in mid-October.

Does this mean that the true point of a public menorah is that some Jewish groups are showing us they can celebrate their holiday in as tacky a manner as some Christians do with Christmas?

I'd hate to think that is the case. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong.

So as much as I can appreciate the concept of "equal time" and also enjoy the rage that some of these "War on Christmas" types express when they get all worked up over not having their "holiday" reign supreme at this time of year, I'm not sure I see the point.

SO THIS IS what will be going through my mind this weekend, as I'm likely to spend some time with my father and step-mother, who is Jewish. That also means the bulk of my nieces and nephews are being raised Jewish (and are likely to make out this weekend with presents as much as any Christian kid the morning of Dec. 25).

In my own way, I'll even be partaking in Hanukkah (we're gathering Sunday for a holiday party that will include the moment of truth at the menorah). The rest of the week will consist of just a few moments of reflection by my stepmother and whichever of her grandchildren happen to be on hand -- as she tries to pass along the custom to the next generation.

It seems to be to be a more dignified act than anything involving a trip to a public place to look at a giant menorah at the exact moment that another "candle" is lit.

And come Christmas Day, I'm likely to spend a good portion of the day with my mother and other family in holiday celebration.

SO IF FOR me it seems like the whole idea of dueling holidays is just a tad absurd, you'd be correct. There's no reason that there has to be a holiday conflict this time of year. Unless you happen to be the disagreeable type who is looking for a reason to be upset.

In which case, you're just a Grinch.

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