Written by Paige Tamasi
This year Christmas and Hanukkah fall on the same day. The last time this occurred was nearly twenty years ago in 2005. To be specific Hanukkah begins on Christmas Day, the eight-day and night holiday will extend through the end of the year and finish the evening of January 2nd 2025.
How does a Christmas and Hannukah day work (the so-called “Christmukkah”)? This article will highlight some fan-favourite ways of celebrating both holidays on the same day, so families don’t have to chose one over the other.
Best of Both Worlds
If you want to go fully Chistmukkah, why not combine the most popular decorations of each? Take your classic Christmas tree and ornate it with a menorah and dreidel bobbles. Take everyone’s favourite rugelach recipe and shape it into a tree—an editable Christmukkah tree, if you will! Decorate Christmas cookies with scenes from Hanukkah to demonstrate the history of the holiday and combine it with a classic Christmas activity.
If you ever want to read while sat around a fire or while putting the kids to bed, you can always select some great Christmukkah books for this special night. There are many to find, but some favourites include: Blintzes for Blitzen by Elise Okrend, Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama by Selina Alko, and Hanukkah Harvie vs Santa Claus: the Christmukkah Kerfuffle by David Michael Slater.
Another option is to take all of your favourite decorations, activities, and traditions from each holiday and combine them! Have them exist alongside one another instead of in their own individual strengths and history.
Why Combine?
Many people celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah, but since they rarely fall on the same day(s) people don’t have to choose one or the other. But 2024 is a special year with Hanukkah beginning the evening of Christmas, often when people host a large traditional feast.
But if you’d rather not combine the two holidays and continue celebrating them separately you do have some options. The first one is to start your Christmas celebrations early and have the traditional evening feast on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. That way you change gears to Hanukkah on the latter half of the 25th. Or you can begin celebrating Hanukkah a day later on the 26th.
It’s the Holidays!
You can always celebrate a nondemonative holiday on the 25th as well. Have classic silver tinsel with red, green, and blue presents food and decorations lining the walls. You can always do whatever screams HOLIDAY to you and your loved ones in whatever way you want. Christmukkah is simply a quirky nickname for the rare time when Christmas and Hanukkah align on the same day, you can always ignore Christmukkah and simply do your holiday traditions.
There are many options and ideas for a Christmukkah celebration, and if all else fails, you can always turn to handy old Google for more ideas! Regardless of how you celebrate the holidays, Insanity Radio wishes everyone a very Happy Holiday!
To learn more about how Insanity Radio has been celebrating the holidays go here!
Written by Paige Tamasi, Edited by Paige Tamasi, Photography by Anita Austvika, Published by Paige Tamasi