Chanukah has nothing to do with Christmas, and can be celebrated exactly like it always is. Since you say your charges celebrate both, it should be more fun for them to have a month break between the two.

I think for many of us who don't celebrate Chanukah, it is simply seasonally linked with Christmas, in the same way New Years is. New Years has nothing to do with Christmas, but it is part of the "holiday season". That being said, OP, just celebrate Chanukah when it happens this year. It may feel weird to you, but it'd be weirder to celebrate it a month after the fact just so its near Christmas, which it has nothing to do with.

If you normally "do" Chanukah with Christmas, why are you not capable of "doing" Chanukah with Thanksgiving?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do it early! It always annoys me when people say Happy Holidays when x-mas & hunnukah are not even close in date. If you have a Jewish nanny, make sure to give a holiday present at the end of this month.

"Happy holidays" doesn't just refer to Christmas and Chanukah. It also means New Year's, for example. There are a number of Christian holy days around Christmas--Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, etc.

Advent and Epiphany. are not holy days. They are actual seasons in the church year. Gosh. You are dumb.

Anonymous wrote:Just do it early! It always annoys me when people say Happy Holidays when x-mas & hunnukah are not even close in date. If you have a Jewish nanny, make sure to give a holiday present at the end of this month.

"Happy holidays" doesn't just refer to Christmas and Chanukah. It also means New Year's, for example. There are a number of Christian holy days around Christmas--Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, etc.

Since Chanukah is totally unrelated to Christmas, why not handle them separately?

Just do it early! It always annoys me when people say Happy Holidays when x-mas & hunnukah are not even close in date. If you have a Jewish nanny, make sure to give a holiday present at the end of this month.

This year is Chanukah's year to escape the shadow of Christmas and really shine

I say just do up the Chanukah crafts. Then, a month later, do up the Christmas celebration. The two holidays have nothing to do with each other except a coincidence of proximity. Don't feel the least bit weird acknowledging them separately!

Why is it a big deal to not do it with Christmas? It's early this year. Get over it.

I don't understand why this is even a question. If you don't want to leave out Chanukah, do it along with the Turkeys. It's ridiculous to celebrate it a month after the fact.

How are other nannies doing arts and such with Chanukah being so early this year?

Normally I've done projects in Dec along with xmas (my bosses are Jewish and Christian though not practicing).
I don't want to leave out my Db religion but for me it seems weird to be making menorahs along with turkeys (I'm agnostic but try to cater to anyones religion andbeliefs).