It's that time of the year, where Jews eat Chinese food and see the movies!

When I was four, like many children, my parents got a divorce. It was the 1970s in Los Angeles. My mother had gone back to school, got involved in the feminist movement and fell in love with a guitar playing lesbian. (Her feelings were not reciprocated.) From age four until nine, my dad had full custody of my sibs and myself which would all change in fourth grade. 

My parents decided I should go live in Oakland with my mom and her partner. I would spend holidays and the summer vacation with my dad. Chanukah didn't always fall during the winter holidays but Christmas did, so we made it our own Jewish tradition.

For years, he and I would drive to Fairfax Avenue to "see the Jews" and then to stuff our gobs at Cantors. No snow, no Christmas decorations and my only access to Orthodox Jews...and some alta kakhers at Canters.

At list of some of our Christmas Eve movies - real light stuff.

• 1981 - Reds
• 1982 - Gandhi
• 1984 - A Passage to India
• 1986 - The Mosquito Coast