I know Hitchens is primarily a provocateur who happens to make some pretty solid points from time to time, but an old-fashioned Scrooge-style rant was a bit predictable.

I get weary of the overwrought sentimentality of the holiday season, too, and of course the commercialization of Christmas is nauseating. That's the one thing that seems to set Hannakuh apart from Christmas. Maybe it's just because Jews are a minority in America, but it seems like Hannakuh hasn't been reduced to little more than a consumerist orgasm.

But even this skeptic enjoys the holidays, and the whole "Christmas trees are pagan symbols!" complaint is pretty silly. Is pre-Christian paganism more credible than Christianity, Judaism or Islam? I hardly think so. There is something about the change of seasons and natural cycles, however, that seem to give us humans pause. Maybe dressing that up with religious symbolism is irrational. But observing the special importance of these cycles in our history and in our cultures is not irrational.

And there's nothing irrational about wanting kids to be happy, even if it means making up elaborate stories about fat dudes in red suits and flying reindeer.