Dueling holidays

[supergee]

"I like to eat latkes as much as the next Jew, and candlelight is lovely, but the glorification of Hanukkah by American Jews is another example of voluntary group self-deception. It's an exercise in collective bad faith in which everyone agrees to ignore what everyone knows to be true: that Hanukkah is a pissant holiday elevated beyond its status and intrinsic meaning for the glorification of toy manufacturers, greeting card companies, and the makers of chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil, in an effort to battle the cultural stranglehold of Christmas, an effort that never has been and never will be successful, if only because Hanukkah songs are so painfully lame."--Michael Chabon

Thanx to Jon Carroll