Anyone for a Gingerbread Menorah?

I recently saw a ginger bread house display. The houses were lovely, but the reason the display opened this month was that, somewhere along the way, gingerbread became a symbol of Christmas. How this happened, I’m not sure, but it’s not surprising, given that millions of other things that started out having nothing to do with the holiday have become associated with it, including fruitcake, chestnuts, eggnog, any pastry with confectioner’s sugar, any pastry with icing, any pastry, fireplaces, socks, rocking chairs, rocking horses, basically any toy that rocks (not in a cool way), any toy made of wood, toy soldiers, any toy made of tin, bells, anything green, anything red, the nutcracker, cheese and crackers, pot bellied stoves, pot bellied men, and white facial hair.

In fact, as we speak snow flakes have been co-opted by the holiday. Which leaves traditional Jews wondering if there’s something sacrilegious about walking in the snow. (Skiing’s still alright, especially on Christmas). It’s reaching a point where, to show his bona fides as a member of the Tribe, a Jewish person would have to lock himself in his apartment for the entire month of December doing nothing but sip margaritas while wearing Bermuda shorts. To top it off, this 800 pound holiday has had the chutzpah to horn in on kosher food, as I realized when I saw Little Debbie's Christmas cake snacks with a triangle “K” marking!