Have Yourself a Jewish Little Christmas

By Judy Carter     Barbara Streisand, Barry Manilow and Bette Midler all have Christmas albums! What's up with this trend of us Jews putting out Christmas albums? Anyone else find it weird to hear Streisand sing, "Our King has cometh, da, da, da, da?"   Oy, oy, oy, yo! Let's face it, you don't see Brittany Spears putting out a Hanukah album, "Spin little dreidel spin!" 50 Cents is not singing, "Go down you mother f**ker Moses, go down."  Hanukah is so overlooked that as I write this, MS Word doesn't even see "dreidel" as a real word. Now what's up with that? Judy's Jewish Tree Jewish singers who put out Christmas albums could be accused of exploiting the holiday for their own gain. But has anyone else noticed that exploiting another culture for your own gain is also a trend this political season? GOP presidential candidate, and consummate goy, Michele Bachmann has inserted Yiddish into her speech? At least Streisand got the words to "Drummer Boy" right. Buchman pronounced "chutzpah" CHOOT-spa when discussing President Obama's audacity. Watching her on CNN, I didn't know if she was trying to speak Yiddish, or if she was sneezing.  Maybe if this trend of adopting another culture for political gains continues, we might see the Democrats shore up the gay vote by saying, "Pass this bill, [snap, snap] girlfriend." But maybe the need for Jews to be a part of Christmas comes from something other than commercial gain. Perhaps we Jews have Christmas envy. After all, all the Christian holidays are more upbeat than Jewish counterparts.  The birth of Christ is just more cheery than the Hanukah celebration of the Macabee's triumph.  It's just hard to get it up for that. Yes, on Hanukah we got the miracle of the oil lasting 8 days, but that seems as it was an add on - a miracle that was entered in post production to compete with the bright lights on a Christmas tree.   I doubt if Buchman or anyone has Hanukah envy as all the Christian holidays seem more upbeat than ours. Gentiles have Easter that includes chocolate bunnies, Peeps, and brightly colored Easter egg hunts. We Jews have Passover with ten plagues, unleavened bread, and the blood of the Pascal lamb. Boy, doesn't that sound fun?   But, the biggest advantage is that you gentiles know exactly what date your holidays are on. I'm jealous. I have to Google "Hanukah" to find out when it is. Well, this year Hanukah is nearer to Christmas than to Halloween. So, I programmed Pandora to play a mash-up of Christmas and Klezmer music.  And, if Streisand can put out a Christmas album, if Bachmann can speak in my Grandmother's tongue, then I can have a Christmas tree complete with lights, angels, dreidels, and of course a Jewish star on top. Wishing all you funny people good holidays and when things go wrong, remember... it's material! Motivational Humorist, Comedy Coach, and Author.-Judy Carter judy@comedyworkshops.com Pass on this blog to others who might enjoy it and feel free to post it on your website with my byline.