Chrismukkah?

Note the following from the Wall Street Journal:

It was only a matter of time before a TV show inspired a religious movement.

The show is "The O.C.," which traces the lives of some hip teens in Orange County, Calif. One of them is Seth Cohen, the fictional son of a Protestant mother and a Jewish father. Seth's moment of religious inspiration occurred in an episode last December in which he explained his family's holiday-season philosophy to his new foster brother, Ryan.

Seth: "So what's it going to be? You want your menorah or a candy cane, hmm? Christmas or Hanukkah?"
Ryan: "Um, I'm not--"

Seth: "Ah. Don't worry about it, buddy, because in this house, you don't have to choose. Allow me to introduce to you a little something that I like to call--Chrismukkah."

Ryan: "Chrismukkah?"

Seth: "That's right. It's the new holiday, Ryan, and it's sweeping the nation."

In case we needed further proof that life imitates art, "The O.C." inspired Michelle (the daughter of a minister) and Ron Gompertz (a Reform Jew) of Livingston, Mont., to design their own Chrismukkah cards and register ownership of www.chrismukkah.com. If Chrismukkah is not quite sweeping the nation, it's at least generating a little cash for the Gompertzes in the windup to this year's holidays.

"It was one of those moments when a spark goes off," says Mr. Gompertz, describing what happened when he heard Seth Cohen say "Chrismukkah." "It was so much more elegant that Hanumas or the other jokey names we'd come up with."

The Gompertzes made a few cards last year and sent them to family and friends. The response was positive. This year they hired an artist and designed more cards. Too late to get in on any of the industry's trade shows, for now they're selling them exclusively on the Web site. They hope to sell about 25,000 cards this season.

As we all have noticed, it is no longer politically correct to refer to "Christmas". Schools no longer have Christmas vacation - it's now the "Winter Holiday break" just as Easter week is now "Spring break". When I went to the post office this morning, the asked if I wanted any "holiday" stamps. I almost asked if they had anything for Groundhog's Day just to see how complete their "holiday" selection was.

This story reminds me of "Festivus", the holiday celebration created by Frank Costanza (George's father) on the old Seinfeld show. The holiday basically featured a scraggly Festivus tree and the family shouting insulting comments at each other. I'm sure Chrismukkah will make as much sense.

But then again, if we can all be required to celebrate Kwanzaa (my kid's elementary school choir had to learn a Kwanzaa song each year), a completely manufactured holiday created by some college professor in the 60's, I guess Chrismukkah celebrations won't be far behind.

As for me and my house, we will celebrate Christmas with all the attendant adornments and family togetherness. I'll leave the fake holidays to Hollywood.