Hanukkah just ended. Christmas is tomorrow. I'm grateful for both.

Hanukkah just ended. Christmas is tomorrow. I'm grateful for both.

I was raised Jewish by my Jewish father and Catholic mother. Both my parents actively practiced their religions and didn't see it as contradictory that they chose to marry each other and raise a family together.

If you find this curious or weird, I’d love to talk about it. 😉 Ask me questions anytime. Personally, I think it was in a lot of ways the best way to grow up.

I'm creating a similar home with my family now. I am Jewish. My husband was raised Catholic. We are raising our daughter Jewish, and we embrace holiday traditions from both religions in our home.

When I think about this time of year - the candles on the menorah, the lights on the Christmas tree, holiday cards from friends and family, making cookies, drinking hot chocolate - I think about warmth and caring and kindness and love.

Those are the words that, to me, embody this time of year. A time to pause, focus on what matters most to me, and share with others my version(s) of warmth and caring and kindness and love.

So to each one of you, whether we've exchanged one message or have been friends for decades, I wish you warmth and caring and kindness and love.

And if you're wondering what to do with this time, or struggling to find a gift for someone you love, I offer you this: what would it look like for you to take one small step to put more warmth or caring or kindness or love into the world?

Image: Our fully lit menorah from Sunday night, and our almost fully decorated tree (missing the topper!). The tree hides in the bedroom because we have to have a door between the tree and unsupervised kittens. 😻