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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Our Hanukkah Special

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We've done some holiday episodes of Pop Culture Happy Hour in the past. But very often, because many of us on the panel celebrate Christmas, we end up talking about that. This year, we wanted to talk a little about Hanukkah as both a religious and pop-cultural event, so we called in two of our favorite women who celebrate: Barrie Hardymon of Weekend Edition and Sarah Ventre of member station KJZZ in Phoenix.

Sarah and Barrie talk about their family celebrations now, the ones they remember from their youth, and the weird way Hanukkah winds up bumping into Christmas in a way that affects its cultural footprint. We also dive into some of the pop-cultural works that are all around the holiday, even if they're not quite as ubiquitous as Christmas doodads. We talk about Sharon Jones, the Rugrats — and a Hanukkah-themed romance novel, too.

Follow Sarah and Barrie on Twitter, share your memories and traditions and favorites with us on Facebook or Twitter, and we'll be back on Friday to talk about The Post, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.