Tonight marks the first night of Hanukkah. As with every Advent I do, I devote a day to the Festival of Lights as my wife is half-Jewish. For this post, I am going with the most Jewish sitcom in all of pop culture, Seinfeld. And yes, you heard me right. Instead of using the random generator, for this post, I did the selection. Let's begin.
In terms of officially licensed ornaments, there aren't very many. The main one I can find is this decoration from Hallmark. Released just this year, this ornament represents that puffy pirate shirt Jerry is forced to wear on a talk show. I don't really know why this is such an iconic scene from the series but people seem to really love that episode. I like it because it bears the iconic read lettering over a yellow field logo of the sitcom.
There was another Hallmark ornament available and it's devoted to my favorite episode of the series- the Festivus episode. But I saw so many Festivus ornaments from Etsy type sellers that I liked better. If you want to see the official Festivus ornament, Google it. (Hint- it looks like an ugly sweater) As for me, I'm sticking with the small business man!
Festivus was a holiday George's dad created in opposition to Christmas. Known as the holiday for the rest of us, Festivus involved hanging up a metal pole instead of a tree, airing of grievances towards your loved ones, capped off by the feats of strength. The late great Jerry Stiller really sells the absurdity of the made up holiday and that's why I am sharing this resin ornament of Frank Constanza bearing the Festivus pole from online seller, Christmas Mouse.
If you are looking for an ornament that you just can't look away from, may I suggest this one of Kramer's portrait. Produced on Pixel by a seller know as Doc Braham, this wooden ornament is available as a rectangular looking painting or in fun shapes like star, oval and Christmas Tree.
I also want to share this ornament created by a seller on Etsy devoted to the made up company, Vandelay Industries. When George's unemployment is about to run out, he lies to his case worker that he's interviewed with Vandelay Industries, a maker of fine latex products. Of course, the ruse doesn't pan out. But that's okay because George eventually lands a fairly sweet job working for the New York Yankees.
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For the DIY ornament, I'm going to talk you through making your own Festivus pole. You will need 2 1/2 pieces of balsa wood plank, a 3 inch long metal rod with a hole on top (can be found at Home Depot), a small piece of thin ribbon and some hot glue. First, take the planks and glue them into a cross-section. Then thread the ribbon through the eye of the metal rod and tie off. Next, glue the base on the pole into the center of the plank cross section. Now you are ready to use for the airing of those grievances when not hanging from the limb of your tree. And yes- I understand the irony of that last statement!
By the way, Festivus is held on December 23rd.
For my Advent gift for you today, here's comedian Jerry Seinfeld doing a stand-up routine about that fan favorite holiday, Halloween. Look, I tried to find him doing a bit about the Festival of Lights. But I couldn't track anything down. If it means that much to you, during this 6-minute clip, every time Jerry mentions Halloween, insert the word Hanukkah instead. It might not make as much sense, but at least it's fitting with today's opening night of Jewish tradition.
Enjoy!
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