When I was a kid, in the burbs of Connecticut and New York, my older sister would every year ask my folks for a "Chanukah Bush" and every year my father would tell her "no."
Thank G-d for my old man, but to this day, I still have an affection for Christmas.
I do not know how it is played out in other cultures, really, but within the United States it is basically a celebration of friendship and life.
And there is nothing the least little bit wrong with that.
Christmas is among my favorite holidays.
I love Passover.
I love Thanksgiving.
And, yes - shoot me dead ya bastards - I love Christmas.
I imagine that there must be one or two devout Christians who occasionally read Israel Thrives and to them I just want to wish a very Merry Christmas.
G-d bless our Christian friends.
{We certainly need them.}