Alright. It is time for me have a soap box moment. Chanukkah (Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hanukah or however else you can manage to spell it) is not a major Jewish holiday. Sorry. It's just not. It is a wonderful, fun, exciting, and definately important holiday to celebrate, but it's not up there on the list of what I'd call the top five holidays.

I am not a huge buff on the Christian religion, but I do know that Christmas and Easter are the major holidays in the calendar, with scattered more minor holidays. My very religious Christian friends actually feel that Easter is more of a major holiday than Christmas.

It is due to the over commercialization of Christmas that Chanukkah too has become commercialized. It used to be that you would never find Chanukkah themed tablecloths or papergoods or toys designed for that market in mainstream stores. I think I used to complain about it. Now, I complain because there's too much of it. My Christian friends remind me of times when Christmas used to start in, well, December. Now it seems it starts in August. And it's not a real "Christmas season" anymore, it's a shopping season. I think we are loosing spirituality in many religions.

Chanukkah should be celebrated. Chanukkah should be a positive experience. And Chanukkah is an easy holiday to bring into your home. And go ahead and give little presents to each other or to your children if that is a way that helps you get your family involved in the holiday. But please understand that the only reason it's such a big deal is because it happens to fall out close to that other major winter holiday. So go ahead, light those candles. But Chanukkah is not the be-all and end-all of our traditions.