CHICAGO — For only the fifth time in 100 years, Hanukkah and Christmas fall at the exact same time.
Though Christmas Eve and Christmas Day always fall on Dec. 24 and 25, respectfully, Hanukkah is a floating eight-day celebration determined by the lunar-based Jewish calendar that doesn't always begin on the same date each year.
As the first night of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve overlap and turn into the first day of Hanukkah and Christmas-proper, interfaith families who celebrate both are presented with a unique opportunity.
"It's vibrant, it's a living experience," said Eileen O’Farrell Smith, founder and director of a monthly group called The Interfaith Union. "When you have kids, you don't want to be rushing to other peoples' homes for the holidays. You want to stay home and do your own thing and begin to make that imprint of your own family."
In talks with some of her organization's members, many people are opting to celebrate Christmas Eve and/or Christmas on their dates, and follow out the remaining six days of Hanukkah as usual, she said.
"A lot of people seem to be devoting the Christmas Eve moment to the Christian side ... and then having some kind of family gathering the final weekend, and do whatever their own family tradition is throughout the eight days of Hanukkah," O'Farrell Smith said. "In all of these couples, it's different from what they were raised with.
"Once you marry or are involved as a couple then you have to force your own way into stuff. ... I think it will be unique to every family," she said.
O'Farrell Smith, a Catholic, was in an interfaith marriage with her husband, a Jew, for 23 years before he passed away from brain cancer in 2008.
Though he didn't actively practice much Judaism at first, O'Farrell Smith said she was eager to learn about his religion and incorporate it into their lives.
As their three children grew, O'Farrell Smith said her family began to develop its own identity when it came to intertwining their faiths.
"He became more involved in Catholic ritual, and I became more involved in Jewish ritual, so there really was this exquisite dance, I think," she said.
Though for some families there can be external pressures to celebrate a certain way, in particular when in an interfaith relationship, O'Farrell Smith said the "December dilemma" can really be more of a blessing.
"People talk about the December dilemma, there's no dilemma," she said. "It's just so beautiful, there's just such a meaningful symmetry in the season."
Bucktown resident Lauren Kleiman, whose mom is Catholic and father Jewish, said she grew up in the Midwest as the daughter of transplanted New Yorkers. Kleiman said her family always put a menorah next to the family's Christmas tree.
"I thought it was completely normal, little did I know I was the oddball. I don't decorate anymore, but my parents still put out the same menorah next to their tree. We aren't religious. It's merely for tradition's sake," Kleiman said.
Kleiman said she considers herself to be "culturally Jewish."
"Being Jewish is very much a culture, aside from a religion, and since most of my family is mixed between Italian Catholic and Jewish, and just plainly originating in Brooklyn, the Jewish culture was most prominent," Kleiman said.
Wicker Park resident Dan Hawkins is Jewish and plans to dress as "Santa Claus" on Dec. 24.
Dan's wife, Kim Coady Hawkins said that she and her husband also celebrate Hanukkah.
"We do light a menorah and do the traditional dinners and celebrations with Dan's family but with the overlap this year, Santa duty calls on Christmas Eve. He usually has 15 or so little ones to play Santa for ages baby to 10-ish, when they start to realize that it is him. "
The couple's home also displays a combination of decorations for both holidays.
"Interfaith marriage melded flawlessly. We are lucky," Coady Hawkins said.
Michael Sackar, a Bucktown resident who is Jewish, is in a long term interfaith relationship and celebrates both holidays with his girlfriend and her daughter, whom he has helped to raise for 10 years.
"Ordinarily, there is no conflict, and we spend the first night of Hanukkah with my family, and Christmas with Jodi's family. As for this year, there was a bit of challenge with the two holiday's being on the same night, but since it's not the norm, we will spend more of the day doing our own family stuff on Christmas eve, and then make our way to my brother's for Hanukkah," Sackar said.
Sackar said that celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas has been all that his girlfriend's daughter knows, and as far as she is concerned, the more opportunity for presents the better. (He added, "We are trying to change that outlook to be much less about a present grab.")
And if there ever were a conflict on which holiday to celebrate on Christmas day?
Sacker said that the Jewish side of his family would likely be the loser as "it's hard to compare Hanukkah and Christmas" plus the size of respective families plays a lot into it as his girlfriend's family is huge, with lots of kids, whereas his family is very small.
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