Skip to main content

2024 Holiday’s Rumination's

In this episode, 2024 Holiday’s Rumination's . . . 

Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah!

Did you know that Christmas Day this year is also the first day of Hanukkah? While watching Sunday Morning, our go-to news program, they did a segment on the fact that these two holidays will occur this year, 2024, on the same day. This is due to the different calendars used to determine the dates for each holiday: the Gregorian calendar for Christmas and the Hebrew calendar for Hanukkah.

According to AI, In recent history, This has happened only four times in the last 100 years. The next time Christmas and Hanukkah overlap is in 2035 and then again in 2054. I hear you asking, so what? Over the past two years, I’ve met with Dr. Don Hanley—a former priest who left the ministry to marry. We meet biweekly for lunch, discussing topics from religion and philosophy to science, history, politics, and human nature. He was raised in the strict Catholic tradition in the 1940s, while I was raised independent of any formal religion.

However, living in Cuba and growing up in the States, we–as children– “adopted” Christmas as our December holiday, not because of the traditions of the local churches in our town: Cuba–Church of the Nazarene, the Christian Church, and the United Methodist Church, but because it was the dominant community tradition.

Christmas was everywhere, from decorations on the square with holiday lights to Santa Land at our local True Value Hardware store to Christmas trees sold at Day and Palins, our local IGA. Moreover, television promoted Christmas with children's programs like A Charlie Brown Christmas. Who can forget Linus and his classic oration on stage, delivering his rendition from the King James Version of the Bible: “And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Also, NORAD Tracks Santa has been sharing Santa’s whereabouts with the news media since the 1970s. But did you know that the tradition started in 1955 with a hilarious misdialed call?

So, what is Hanukkah?

Hanukkah, or Chanukah, is the Jewish Festival of Lights. In Hebrew, it means "dedication." It celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC, after the Maccabees' successful rebellion against the Seleucid Empire.

Key to the story is the miracle of the oil, where enough oil for one day lasted eight days. The main tradition is lighting the menorah, a nine-branched candelabra. Traditional foods include latkes and sufganiyot (jelly donuts), which symbolize the miracle. Common customs are playing dreidel and exchanging gifts. Hanukkah is a time of joy and reaffirming Jewish identity.

So, as you can see, there were no Catholic Churches, no Jewish Synagogues.

It wasn’t until moving to New York City in 1991 that I experienced the Catholic & Jewish traditions and their people. Since then, I’m honored to call many of my good friends Jewish and Catholic.

This raises the question: What can we learn from this year's conjunction of holidays? Consider this: the holiday spirit promotes a feeling of warmth, generosity, hope, peace, and goodwill. It can manifest in many ways, regardless of religious affiliation (I’ve listed seven).

  1. Acts of Kindness: During the holidays, people are more likely to volunteer their time, donate to charity, and help those in need.
  2. Family Gatherings: Many cherish spending time with loved ones, sharing meals, laughter, and cherished memories.
  3. Community Spirit: Holiday events like parades, concerts, and tree lighting foster a sense of togetherness and shared joy within a community.
  4. Appreciation and Gratitude: The holidays often encourage reflection on our lives' blessings, fostering a sense of gratitude and appreciation for loved ones, health, and good fortune.
  5. Promotes Gratitude: Focusing on our blessings cultivates an attitude of gratitude, which can increase happiness and well-being.
  6. Inspires Generosity: Sharing blessings can inspire others to be generous in their ways, creating a ripple effect of kindness and compassion.
  7. Overcomes Division: In a world that often emphasizes our differences, reminding ourselves of the shared blessings we enjoy as human beings can help bridge divides and foster a greater sense of unity.

Friends, the holiday spirit transcends any religion or belief. It embodies our shared values of kindness, compassion, and connection.


So, “God Bless Us, everyone.” - Tiny Tim.


I’m Patrick Ball. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! Thanks for listening. I’ll see you in the next episode.

Comments

Don Hanley said…
pATRICK - Thank you for this very Spiritual and thoughtful message!
Anonymous said…
Wonderful post!! We are so grateful to have you and Lori’s kind souls as our friends. Happy Holidays!

Most Popular of All Time

Mom Was Right

In this episode: Mom Was Right (Again!) . . . Remember that old saying, "Mom knows best?" Well, this week, it resonated profoundly. I vividly recall my mother's steadfast remedy for the common cold, which was ingrained in my 1960s childhood: "Rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids, and take aspirin to reduce pain and fever." . . . Or now that I think about it, this may have been a Bayer aspirin commercial–Simple . . . Fast-forward to the age of AI and endless medical information at our fingertips, and guess what? Not much has changed. Yet, somehow, this week, Lori and I were blindsided by a cold—the first in over five years. My incredulous "How could this be?" quickly morphed into a dawning realization. Our company's annual meeting, a melting pot of colleagues from Illinois, Texas, Vietnam, Colorado, Northern California, and the Central Valley, was a veritable petri dish of germs. And, oh, the germs found me! Getting sick, especially after a long str...

Whispers of Spring

In this episode, Whispers of Spring . . . Spring has a way of sneaking in when you’re not looking. One day, you’re shaking off the last chill of winter, and the next, you realize the light has shifted, stretching shadows just a little longer. It didn’t make a big fuss about it—no dramatic entrance, no trumpets—just a quiet unfolding, like an old dog settling into a sunny spot on the porch. Last week, Daylight Saving Time kicked in, which meant we all fumbled with our clocks, grumbled a bit, and then, like frogs taken aback by a warm rain, leapt forward into longer evenings. The sun now lingers, in no rush to set, hanging in the sky like a tossed coin that refuses to fall. With the extra daylight, we find ourselves drawn outside once again, migrating to the back patio like folks are drawn to a warm campfire. The lawn chairs are right where we left them, waiting like old friends. The air hums with wind chimes, their tuned cylinders catching the breeze and weaving together something that...

Special April Fools' Edition: Did You Fall For It?

In this episode: Special April Fools' Edition: Did You Fall For It? (And a Little Baseball Nonsense) Welcome, fellow baseball aficionados and purveyors of the peculiar, to a very special, dare we say unpredictable, issue of On the Fly! Today, the air is thick with . . . well, probably just regular air, but a specific mischievous something is buzzing around. Can you feel it? Does that tingling sensation make you double-check your shoelaces and suspiciously eye any unusual packages? Yes, dear readers, it’s April 1st! A day steeped in mystery, shrouded in playful deception, and frankly, a day where you shouldn't believe anything you read (except maybe this . . .maybe). But before we descend into a whirlwind of whimsical falsehoods (don’t worry, we’ll mostly keep it light!), let’s take a quick, slightly wobbly, historical flight through the origins of this most unreliable of holidays. Whispers from the annals suggest a few intriguing possibilities for why we dedicate this particula...

At 92–Don's Digital Daydream

Listen to the audio here. In a world of his own–lives, ole' Doctor Don, Not one world, but three, 'til the setting of the sun! There’s his Blog-World , so bright, with words all a-whirl, And Book-World , with stories of boy and girl! Then, Day-World , where legs didn't leap, didn't run, Just shuffled and creaked 'til each day is done. But his brain, oh, his mind, it’s zippy and keen, A most curious fellow that ever was seen! At ninety and two, with a twinkle so bright, He met Chatty and said, "What a strange delight!" This box with the answers, so quick and so bold, Of theology and stories, new truths to unfold!" "Integrity, relationships, where do they fit? This thing makes me wonder, bit by bit!" He ponders and pokes with laughter and a grin, "Til POOF! he has gone to a world from within! A world made of words, a fantastical place, Where limits of the body, left not a trace! He Soares, and he zooms, with a thought and a rhyme, Trans...