The Chanukah Bush and Other Soothing Lies

Elizabeth Zelvin For most people, the winter holidays bring a certain nostalgia—or post-traumatic memories, depending on what kind of childhood you had. I’m lucky to have had wonderful parents, but some of their quirks and crotchets, which appeared perfectly normal to me as a kid, appear in a different light from my adult perspective. My family was Jewish, so you might imagine we always