As November 30th finally rolls around, my family’s house is already decorated. The Christmas tree is beside the menorah as the elves on the shelves sit cheekily beside the mensch on the bench. Whilst counting down the days left of Hanukkah and the days until Christmas, my family counts down the days until I become one year older. Though this sounds like chaos inside our house, and maybe you experience this too, we’re able to keep things relatively simple. This triathlon of holidays is a chaotic kind of fun, but the road to get there is a lot of work.

If you’re not Jewish, celebrate Christmas, or have a birthday in December, you might be wondering what life is like when these three big celebrations line up and what makes this time of year so chaotic. Your first question might be: why are these celebrations so close together?

While Christmas will always be on the 25th of December, and my birthday will always be the 28th, Hanukkah is my family’s wildcard. Hanukkah, unlike Christmas and my birthday, changes every year–at least in terms of our calendars. Hanukkah always falls on the 25th day of Kislev, a date from the Hebrew calendar. Since Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday, it is alongside other Jewish holidays such as Passover and Yom Kippur that can differ every year. Hanukkah can be as early as mid-November, to as late as late-December. 

This is what brings the chaos, having two holidays back to back and always relatively close. The frantic panic of trying to get gifts for all the days, the possibility of holidays overlapping with one another, and coordinating with friends (who might be on vacation) to spend time with one another. However, what’s chaotic on the outside is organized on the inside. As for my family, it’s a matter of keeping on track and focusing on one small step at a time. 

While Hanukkah’s date may differ every year, my family’s December festivities are usually able to accommodate. Since only my dad’s side celebrates Hanukkah, we only have to schedule a small gathering with them. It’s the same with my mother’s side of the family and Christmas, where we only have to schedule one gathering instead of two, but we have the added challenge of hosting. While the first weekend with dad’s family is for fun and spending time together, you have to be ready to wake up at the crack of dawn for the next celebration. You’ll have to clean, cook, bake, and more in order to prepare for a second round of hosting mom’s family guests. This celebration causes more stress as these preparations could take days on end. 

The chaos doesn’t stop there. As I mentioned before, during one of the crazy eight nights of Hanukkah, my family takes the 2-hour drive to Connecticut to celebrate with my dad’s side of the family, a far drive that adds to the triathlon stress. By the time my birthday rolls around, it’s the calm after the storm. Some family members may drop by to give small gifts for me, or my friends come for the day to celebrate with some pizza, my birthday is normally the smallest of the holidays. 

While December may seem more jammed in than most months, to my family, we’re able to handle it well and celebrate it more. It allows for more exciting visits with extended relatives, delicious food to be eaten, and smiles to be shared across the whole family, both sides included. And for the next few months, nothing will be as exciting in our household holiday-wise…until Passover and Easter come around.