Of course Hanukkah is great, what’s not to love? We have presents, latkes, jelly doughnuts, dreidels and chocolate gelt. What many people don’t understand, though, is that Hanukkah is not as important in the Jewish religion as other holidays. The three most important holidays are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Passover. Hanukkah is celebrated so widely because it falls around Christmas time. And while Hanukkah is great, Christmas is different. There are so many fun and different traditions that truly get us in the holiday spirit.

Why is Christmas so great? I’ll tell you:

1. The lights & decorations

There is nothing better than driving down streets and seeing houses and lawns decked out with colorful lights and decorations. And there are always those people that go all out with decorations that can be seen for miles!

2. The trees

The tree always steals the show. Decked out with beautiful ornaments, lights, netting, and more. There are so many fun ways to customize and make Christmas trees special. And the best part is decorating them!

3. The spirit

With all of the lights and music and Christmas getting closer by the day, the holiday spirit is everywhere. Everything is festive and fun and giddy. People are cheery and there is just so much to look forward to!

4. The cookies & gingerbread

Decorating cookies and building gingerbread houses is one of the best parts of the holiday season. No matter how hard you try to build a perfect gingerbread house, it will never look like the picture on the box. They don’t even taste that great, but half of the fun is eating the candy while building them. You can’t forget sugar cookies with frosting either! These are always a crowd pleaser, especially when you decorate them yourself! Santa doesn’t need cookies, but you do!

5. The sweaters

Ugly Christmas sweaters, no matter how ugly, are never out of style during the holiday season. Sweaters with lights and pompoms and glitter will always be a show stopper. And the combination of white, green, and red looks good on basically everyone.

6. The snow

Let it snow! When it snows during the holiday season, it is just magical. It is so beautiful outside when everything’s is dusted in white, fluffy snow. It feels like we are in a snow globe. And you know what snow means: sledding and snowball fights. There is no Christmas like a white Christmas.

7. The parties

Holiday parties just combine all the things we love: holiday music, lights and decorations, costumes, food, and drinks! Stuffing yourself with themed food and drinks while listening to Christmas songs, it doesn’t get better than that!

8. The movies

Elf, Home Alone, The Polar Express, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Story, and so on. There are hundreds of Christmas movies, and all of the Christmas movie marathons suck you in so easily. What’s not to love about dysfunctional families, magical, and of course Santa?!?!

9. The music

If you don’t like Christmas music you are just lying. For the whole month of December, the only radio and Spotify channels I listen to are the Christmas channels. The songs are just happy and festive and catchy, and you can’t help but belt them out.

10. The presents

Not only are they fun to get, but they are also fun to give. The deals are amazing around Christmas time and you know Santa, always looking for a good bargain for the nice list of kids.

11. The food

Can’t forget about the food. Once Christmas time rolls around, so do all the Christmas addition foods. CANDY CANE EVERYTHING! There are seasonal coffee and hot chocolate drinks, seasonal candies, and more. One can never eat too much peppermint bark.

Happy holidays!