This week marks perhaps the rarest convergence of holidays ever: Thanksgivukkah! (For all my goys out there, Jewish holidays change annually based on the Jewish calendar. Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th day of the Jewish month Kislev, which can fall anywhere from November 28 through December 26.) On this year, of all years, Hanukkah 5774 falls on Thanksgiving 2013!
This is the first Thanksgivukkah since 1888, and it will not happen for another 70,000 years! And who knows if our extraterrestrial overlords will even let Earthlings celebrate holidays then? So schlep over to your bubbe’s house, spin the dreidel, break out the sweet potato latkes, turkey matzoball soup, challah stuffing, and pumpkin rugelach, and celebrate!
This year, while you are celebrating Hanukkah and/or Thanksgiving, start a new tradition. Before lighting the menurkey, fill out some Holiday Mail for Heroes cards for the Red Cross to send to service members and veterans, to show that you are thankful for them.
The Red Cross and the military are diverse, so we need a diversity of cards! We love to see cards for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Thanksgiving, and New Year, as well as general “Happy Holiday” or “Happy Winter” cards.
You can either sign store-bought cards, or you can make your own, like I did with my 9-year-old brother, Alex. It was a great activity for us to do together, being that I’m the absolute worst at Super Smash Brothers, and he’s downright useless when it comes dress shopping. Here are the Thanksgivukkah, Hanukkah, and Thanksgiving cards Alex made, using supplies he already had:
Hurry up and get your cards in because the mailbox closes on December 6! However, you can use social media at anytime using #holidaymail for service members to see throughout the season! Maybe you can send a video of your family singing a holiday song around the Thanksgiving table, or a picture of a physical card you signed.
Check out our livestream of all #holidaymail posts.
Here’s a post I made with a “Happy Hanukkah” video message from Alex after he made his cards:
https://twitter.com/LindyLikeTheHop/status/404711850904150017