I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!

April, I’m so sorry to hear about your husband’s sudden passing last year. A difficult loss at a difficult time. You have my condolences.

GO STACEY!

WOOOOOHOOOOO

What an interesting piece of history, Divine.

I think the non-Christian decorations would look the same as they do now; honoring the traditions if not the religion. And of course, we already know what the anti-Christ decorations look like from the previous administration's holiday decor.......

Biden brings a menorah lighting back to the White House, rededicating a Hanukkah tradition from the 20th century (theconversation.com)

I'm learning quite a bit from all your well-versed historical perspectives.

Hanukkah is actually not a major holiday in Judaism--unlike the High Holy Days, Passover, Sukkot, Shavuot and thw weekly Shabbat, there are no proscriptions against working, handling money, writing, cooking, using electricity, riding/driving, etc. It isn't the Jewish equivalent of Christmas, and many years the two holidays don't even coincide (a few years ago, the first night of Hanukkah fell on Thanksgiving Day). It rose to national--and especially commercial--prominence during the mid-20th century in response to public schools' Christmas pageants, carol-singing, parties and department-store Santas. Its status as a holiday was elevated partly in response to increasing numbers of us "seasonally assimilating." Perhaps the fact that the two most beloved secular Christmas contemporary pop songs--"White Christmas" and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting..)." were written by the Ashekenazi Irving Berlin & Sephardic Mel Tormé might have contributed to that.

Here in Chicagoland, Lubavitch Chabad has set up giant menorahs (more accurately, "Hanukkiot") not just in Jewish neighborhoods & suburbs, but various commercial districts . In fact, at this year's "Christkindlmarkts" at the Daley Center Plaza and Wrigley Field's Gallagher Way, there are Lubavitcher Hanukkiot co-reigning with the official Christmas trees--at least till Hanukkah is over. (I'm watching the light bulbs fake-flickering in my electric Hanukkiah as I type this, with our tree in the room on the other side of the wall).

Christmas/Hanukah are here to stay.......think of the economic boost it gives to retailers big and small.

On a 'oh my, what are surprise that this could happen' note:

Prominent 'Christian' televangelist and anti-vaccine advocate Marcus Lamb died after being hospitalized with Covid-19. In 1997 he founded a 'Christian' network and used that platform to speak out against the Covid-19 vaccines on his show. In an episode earlier this year featuring anti-vaccine activists including Robert Kennedy Jr. (whose father is rolling over in his grave), Lamb said the Covid vvaccine was "not really a vaccine," but an "an experimental shot" that was "dangerous. Marcus Lamb alleged that people were dying or having neurological disorders from the vaccine.

*if he's listening from the great beyond, I'd like to point out that it is hard to get a neurological disorder if you're dead.

So, as long as I have affairs with men who are not transvestites, I have a green light from God? I will have to run that one past my husband....who might not be as agreeable as Lamb's diety.

The following is from an email I got from the National Museum of American Jewish History. I visited the museum when I was in Philadelphia, bought somethings from the gift shop, and am now forevermore on their email list.

Remarks by President Biden During a Menorah Lighting in Celebration of Hanukkah
December 01, 2021-East Room

And one such miracle brings us to a menorah we're lighting tonight. The artist who designed it is Manfred Anson — was 1 of 20 boys selected by the Jewish Welfare Society to flee from Germany [to Australia] in the beginning of World War Two.
A miracle, but one shadowed by darkness as his younger brother didn't make it out — killed in the concentration camp.
Pain. The pain — it is easy — in the pain, it's easy to lose hope and harden what's left of a broken heart and a broken soul.
But not Anson. He joined the Australian Army and fought against the fascists.
After the war, his sister, who survived in concentration camps, wrote a letter addressed simply to "Manfred Anson, Australia." That was all it said. And it was a miracle: The letter found him. It found him. They reunited.
Their parents had survived the war but had not lived long enough to see their surviving son.
*Manfred and his sister came to the United States and, in gratitude, opted [sic] — it was his adopted homeland. He began collecting thousands of souvenirs of little Statues of Liberty, of the U.S. Capitol, and the Liberty Bell, which is what he used to design this menorah — this menorah we're going to pay tribute to. Two centuries of two cultures.
This menorah is on loan from the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, just across from the Liberty Bell itself.
And one of the honors of my career was helping dedicate the museum in 2010, where I had a tough job following — Jerry Seinfeld and Bette Midler were the other two speakers. (Laughter.) Thank God, they didn't ask me to sing. (Laughter.)
But I was honored to join my dear friend and museum founder, Ron Rubin — who passed away this year — after dedicating that essential institution.
Anson passed away in 2012, and this is the second of his menorahs to be in the White House. As we honor his work, we also honor the abiding lesson of his life — that we must be grateful for our freedoms and we must defend those freedoms.

The President of the National Museum of American Jewish History and the Second Gentleman with the menorah mentioned by the President.

Ruth, I love it!

Speaking of Adam Sandler's classic song, tonight I drove past a Hanukkah pop-up bar all lit up in blue & white--called "Eight Crazy Nights."

This makes me very happy:

(CNN) President Joe Biden and Jill Biden will attend the 44th annual Kennedy Center Honors Sunday night in Washington, DC, reinstating a longstanding tradition that was interrupted by Donald Trump's presidency.

The event celebrates the careers of prominent members of the performing arts. The first lady's spokesman Michael LaRosa confirmed the attendance of the President and first lady, as well as a private reception for honorees at the White House prior to the performance, which the Bidens will host. This year's recipients include Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Justino Díaz, Berry Gordy and Lorne Michaels.

The President and first lady sit with the awardees in the box tier, a balcony section of the Kennedy Center's Opera House theater, to watch the performance. Biden attended the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors as vice president.

Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff are also expected to attend, according to a release from the Kennedy Center. The Honors will be televised on CBS on December 22.

Yeah--Il DuceBag couldn't abide seeing anyone other than himself, his family, and cronies being awarded.

What a completely despecable woman.

Speaking of which I had to advocate for my vaccine. I had to go to a CVS, since all other locations were booked out. (Yay - at least the boosters are popular!) The pharmacists tried to deny me service, because CVS wasn't in my insurance's network. "That doesn't matter. The Federal Retail Pharmacy program overrides insurance limitations. You cannot deny someone a COVID shot if they are uninsured or out of network. If you can bill to an insurance plan, then you do so. But if you can't the government will cover it." "I don't think CVS does that," she said. "It has to. It's a federal order. Oh, and here's the web site that says that CVS is indeed part of the program."

After that she was fine, and wasn't huffy or put off. But when I got my "How was your visit at CVS?" survey, I recommended that they remind their pharmacists that they have to proved the vaccine to any qualified person who needs it. I did not want to have to wait another month to find an appointment outside of my work schedule.

Can we get a shot against Greene in one arm and against Boebert in the other arm at the same visit?