"Yeah, exactly." Jim nods, her assessment of the whole thing pretty spot on. "History and culture's at the center of a lot of it."

Oh, well then. She'd mentioned Christmas earlier; apparently she doesn't know as much as he'd assumed. That's his mistake for not asking. "From the religion angle, Christmas is about celebrating the birth of another religion's demigod, so that part's not compatible," he explains, his choice of words casting no judgment on either side of the argument. "As far as giving presents goes, that happens all eight days of Hanukkah while Christmas just has the one, so why trade down?" Jim smiles a little then, trying to lighten his own mood. Jury's still out on whether that's working.