Merry Chrismukkah and Happy New Year from Barb's Tea Service!

Seasons Greetings from Barb's Tea Service. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

 

The holiday season, with all its bows and wraps, is, bowing out and wrapping up for another year.  Our December calendar was filled with traditional celebrations as well a few new ones, including Chrismukkah. 

This weekend, we're taking down the trimmings (and making resolutions for our own "trimming down") with a freshly brewed cup of Harney's Holiday spiced black. While we're packaging up the ornaments for next year, we're reflecting on some wonderful memories of the past few weeks.

Last stop of this year's tour. Three stops, three games, one winner.

Family standards for December are the Christmas tree tour and Fun-due! and we continued those last month with a few new twists. The first, "the tour", is our annual trek to a few of the homes of our local family where we stop to not only view the decorated tree, but to have a light repast and engage in some friendly competition. This year, entertainment hosts, Glenn, Marti, Rob and Megan, brought their A-games to their respective games (Christmas Jeopardy!, Feely Meely and Santa Baby) and, kudos to Rachel for the Triple Crown win.

One week later, our favorite New York couple, Matt and Jenna, joined us for our annual Fun-due! (like Jeopardy!, the exclamation point is requisite). This genius strategy and delicious dinner was orchestrated by Chris a few decades ago to keep the "kids" close to home for NYE and, now, Chrismukkah.

While the term - and celebration - have been around for over a century, it's become much more popular in the new millennium.

Chrismukkah is a portmanteau of Christmas and Hanukkah. The word first came about in German-speaking countries within middle and upper-class Jewish communities of the 19th century, per our go-to authority, Wikipedia. 

The lighting of the menorah, tradition calls for all to join hands.

Many of current-day Christmas traditions - indoor trees, decorations and gifts -  came to Germany and Austria in the 1800's and were perceived more as seasonal, rather than strictly religious, customs and were adopted by many Jewish families.  The proximity of Hanukkah and Christmas also added to the blending of holiday rituals. 

After World War II, Chrismukkah immigrated to the United States but it would take another half a century before it gained wide-spread awareness. 

Thanks to "The OC", the teen drama that ran from 2003 - 2007, Chrismukkah entered into the modern-day lexicon via the fictional character, Seth Cohen, who's father is Jewish and mother is Protestant and with much youthful enthusiasm, he plans to maximize both holiday celebrations.

And, might I add here, I witnessed the phenomenon first-hand, as I used to watch "The OC" regularly with, then teenager, Rachel. 

Every ten years or so, Hannukah and Christmas intersect on the same day, when the Gregorian and Hebrew calendar align for both holidays and that makes an extra special Chrismukkah - which is what we celebrated last week.

Matt and Jenna brought their menorah and candles to our New Year's Eve dinner. It's tradition for those around the menorah to hold hands while the candles are lit and that's just what our family did - and, in true Chrismukkah fashion - with the Christmas tree beaming in the background.

Like one of my favorite tea mugs advertises, it really is the most wonderful time of year; when we get together with family and friends to share some old traditions and make a few new ones (and maybe unseat the Triple Crown winner this year!😉) 

From Barb's Tea Service, a very Merry Chrismukkah and a Happy New Year!

🩵💚🧡