Hanukkah starts at sunset on the 20th.

[pbrower2a]

American Jews celebrate it much more heavily because it takes place around the same time as Christmas and Jewish parents don't want their kids to get jealous of their Gentile neighbors.

Heck, a good chunk of them have just given up and decided to celebrate Christmas.

Well. if the Christians can't "get" Judaism, then at least they have Jesus.

[pbrower2a]

It's not even the most important Jewish holiday.

Beyond that; it's one of the least important.

It seems kind of odd for one of the least important Jewish holidays to coincide with one of Christianity's most important holidays (second only to Easter).  I guess that's on purpose so as to not overshadow or short-circuit the importance of Christmas.

Uh, our holiday is way older than yours, unless you're counting the pagan roots of Christmas, which is the only reason you celebrate on Dec 25 anyway. And Jews don't take Christianity into account when we're scheduling our holidays.

It's a celebration of freedom -- right?

It's safe to say that there were no Christmas trees, no yule log, no Santa Claus, no reindeer, no sleigh, no caroling, no Christmas stockings, and no nutcracker at the birth of Jesus, and there was certainly no snow.  

The Early Christian Church selected December 25 to co-opt one of the biggest pagan bashes, the Saturnalia that celebrated the return of the Sun from the south and the obvious start of the lengthening of the days.