Growing up Jewish, there were a few things in life that were absolutely certain:

1. An uncontrollable love for good pastrami and matzo ball soup.

2. A Bat-mitzvah that would be both of one the most terrifying days of your life, but also one of the most fun.

and

3. Once a year there would be a time when it seemed like society threw you to the curb--- that time being the holiday season. Wait, who are we kidding? It's called Christmas season.

I would go over to a friend's house and see their huge pine Christmas tree that made the entire apartment smell wonderful and woodsy. I would see the stockings on their fireplace with everyone's names perfectly painted on them in silver swooping letters. I would see their adorable family Christmas card in a frame on the coffee table. Then I would go home and realize those things were just not in the cards for me and my family. At dinner, when my parents would ask me how my day was, I wouldn't tell them about any of it. I didn't want to make them feel bad, and I didn't want them to think that I disliked being Jewish, because that was the furthest thing from the truth.

Over time, I finally figured out the secret to surviving Christmas season as a Jew. That secret is all about remembering one simple thing: liking Christmas does not make you a bad Jew.

It's really not an earth shattering concept, but it was certainly news to me. It took me an embarrassingly long time to fully understand that, and coming to that realization was more freeing than it should have been. It was freeing because it had been so hard to pretend not to enjoy Christmas time. If we're being completely honest, Christmas is pretty awesome. Entire cities are decorated with lights, it's acceptable to listen to Michael Buble's entire holiday album, and Coca-Cola comes out with yet another amazing holiday commercial starring the adorable polar bears (which are so great that they are rumored to be getting their own movie).

If you say you don't enjoy those things, I honestly won't believe you. So now that you're at peace with your love for all things Santa and disgustingly commercial, there's something else we should address-- you have no reason to feel like society kicked you to the curb, because it didn't. To my fellow Jews, we have our own equally amazing holiday, it's called Hanukkah. You may have heard of it.

Just because I like Christmas does not mean I don't absolutely love Hanukkah. Sure, Harry Hanukkah does not have the publicity team or merchandising empire that Santa has always had, but he's still pretty cool. Sure, the fact that Hanukkah always seems to fall during finals while Christmas deserves a national holiday is a little unfair. But to make that fair would be asking for eight days off of classes and work, and that seems like a lot to ask. Especially for a holiday that is predominately celebrated at sundown. Our people have always seemed to get the short end of the stick, but I've personally always loved rooting for the underdogs. And I wouldn't trade being Jewish for anything.

Even though we don't have entire radio stations that can just play Hanukkah music, having Adam Sandler write several songs celebrating our incredibly cool Festival of Lights is an alternative I will gladly accept. We should also acknowledge that growing up playing Dreidel teaches children how to gamble intelligently, which I think is not only a very useful skill for the future, but also pretty badass.

So this holiday season, I will choose to shamelessly enjoy all the cheesy merriment around me. And I will also be sure to remember that I'm lucky to be able to celebrate a holiday as awesome as Hanukkah. Hey, maybe my parents will even spring for the Hanukkah bush this year.

Well, a girl can dream.