It's that time of yearagain.

Colored lights glitter at every house; garish reindeer, sledsand plastic Santas adorn yards. Everywhere you go it's Merry Christmas, Season'sGreetings, and Have a Happy Holiday (but you know which one theymean).

It's Christmas time, but for someone who doesn't celebrateChristmas, it's time to be different. I celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival ofLights (ironically, there are Christmas lights everywhere).

People say allholidays are accepted here, so why isn't there a Menorah next to the Christmastree in front of the White House? Why are the season's colors red and green? Whydo cashiers say "Merry Christmas" beginning the day afterThanksgiving?

This is a time to feel like I don't belong. Christmas has becomepart of the American culture. It's as normal as dripping ice-cream pops on thebeach in summer or the Fourth of July.

It's something you get used to,living in this country. I resist, though, out of an innate fear that my holidaywill be swallowed up by the magnitude that is Christmas. I don't want to lose myindividualism.

And I won't - because mine is the only house on the blockwithout Christmas lights.