Hanukah bush: The Jewish experience in America

Abstract

As in the other homes on the street, we put up our tree around Christmas time. We decorated it with lights and ornaments that we had made at school. The whole house was transformed by its presence and the smell of evergreen. We placed the tree by the front window. During the day, the sun made the ornaments sparkle. Lit up at night, our tree became one of the parade of decorations ornamenting our street, part of our family's contribution to the holiday spirit in our suburban neighborhood. Christmas and usually arrived about the same time of year, so we used the tree throughout the eight days of Hanukah. At night we lit the candles of the menorah and the lights of the tree, sang songs celebrating the great victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks, and exchanged presents which we took from their place at the base of the tree. and the tree went together, so we called it our Hanukah bush.