Make the Season Bright

The holiday season is upon us. It's that time of year when we feel a little more giving, weather it's giving money to charity or to ourselves with fantastic discounts at our neighborhood chain stores. It's the season to blast your radio on high with cheesy holiday music and sip a nice cup of hot cocoa. And don't forget all the luminously  decorated houses! Well, all the houses except for mine.  

Every year I ask my mom why we can't put up holiday lights. Her answer: "We're Jewish".


 Despite her claims I do not think this is a valid excuse. Sure the lights are a Christian tradition, but according to my partner in crime, Wikipedia, "the use of celebratory lighting during winter solstice festivals pre-dates Christianity." So we are not using the lights in a religious sense, just as an ancient thing that humans enjoy to do.

Plus, holiday lights are no longer strictly religious, but also cultural. It has become an american tradition to decorate our houses to the nines. So being American, I vote that my family over decorates the exterior of our home as well. We can put blue and white lights over our bushes. It's just Chanukah Americanized. After all, Chanukah has already been Americanized with the idea of giving presents.

So being Jewish is not an excuse for not brightly decorating. Chanukah, after all, is the festival of lights, hence we should have lights. What is an excuse is the electricity bill cost.    

Meh

Isn't "Meh" a great word. This one little sound can convey so much yet say so little. It's the perfect response to any question, because in essence you can never be wrong.

For those of you who are not literate in the language of the teenager, Meh can mean yes, no, indifferent, I don't care, sure, I'm ignoring you, and many many others. In totality, Meh is a verbal shrug. According to urban dictionary, "This is a universal, non-commital answer to every question ever posted." So you can see why I enjoy the word so much.

The famed Oxford English Dictionary says that Meh... wait. The Oxford English Dictionary does not recognize Meh as a word. And no dictionary, I did not misspell the word "me". So why did we talk about how great Oxford English Dictionary is in class? Am I mad? Meh?