drink your gin-and-tonic-ah, it's time to celebrate hanukkah

yesterday was the first day we were allowed to play holiday music at the store. decorations were kept to a minimum, as to make the ambiance "seasonal neutral". it turned out mostly winter-themed - lots of snow flakes, stockings, silver and gold, icicle lights. these suggestions to minimize more religious-based decorations were particularly taken seriously at the scc in glendale (port washington rd & good hope rd). i'm picking up a few hours there this month and just got a text from the manager "...reminding you that you can wear solid blue tops to glendale for the next 7 days for hanukkah!" the glendale store got special permission from the factory to wear blue and go easy on the christmas music because of their "diverse" customer base. aka a large jewish population.

i think that is so awesome. this time of year we often forget not everyone celebrates christmas... as in the birth of christ. some use it as a time to remember the birth of a prophet, to others it's a time to reflect on the past year and make false promises not to mess up in the next, some people take the holiday season to meditate on how fortunate they are and give back to the community while others purge their bank accounts in the name of american consumerism. however, to many communities on the north shore of milwaukee, december is a time to celebrate the festival of lights.

for some distracted reason i'm reminded of the sex & the city episode when charlotte (an episcopalian) converted to judaism for the love of her life. is it that easy? that easy to denounce your religion? after reading many books, watching countless documentaries, and asking controversial questions, i'm not sure what i'll be celebrating/reflecting/purging this holiday season...

but

if being jewish means i get to be friends with these fine boys...

i might give it a go.

...a special thanks to b.notes for finding this gem!