Catholic Hanukkah in the First Grade

"So who celebrates Hanukkah?"  I was getting out all of my holiday decorations and the kids were positively bouncing out of their seats.  The handful who couldn't sit still if their lives depended on it were now just a colorful blur in front of me.  

A girl waved her hand in the air.  "I do!  I celebrate Hanukkah!"  

"Are you Jewish?"  I got all excited for a minute.  I was hoping for a parent to come in and help read the sides of the dreidel for the dreidel game.

The girl nodded her head up and down, still waving her hand in the air.

Then I remembered.  "Don't you go to CCD (religious ed. for Catholics)?"  

"Uh-huh!"  She smiled.

Then my face fell.  I'd have to convince my friend, Tracy to come in and help with holiday centers again.  It would involve bribery, since it would mean her rushing over to teach more kids after she'd just taught Hebrew all morning to first and second graders.

It would be worth it in the end.  My first graders learn and participate with enthusiasm that rivals no one else.

I wish we could be more like first graders, enjoying and appreciating each others beliefs and traditions, rather than spending so much time and energy dividing ourselves...