The simplicity of celebrating Chanukah

I love Christmas. I love looking at all the lights on people's homes and all the twinkling trees inside. I love holiday cookies. And I love how some people fill every inch of their house in Christmas decorations. That being said, I am very happy to celebrate the season vicariously.

With a name like Marilyn Cohen Shapiro, you probably have realized that I have never actually celebrated Christmas. Growing up as the only Jewish family in a tiny upstate New York town, we never had a Christmas tree or strung red and blue lights across our eaves. Once I married Larry under a chuppah in 1974, I conti...