The O.C. gave Us a brand-new holiday in Chrismukkah, but show star Adam Brody’s wife, Leighton Meester, hadn’t made the connection until recently.
“It’s so funny because I have heard that word before. I mean, I can put two and two together, I get what that is. I didn’t know that was the origin of it,” Meester, 37, told The Messenger in a Thursday, November 16, interview when asked about the hybrid holiday of Christmas and Hanukkah. “Maybe I just learned this recently. I don’t know.”
The O.C., created by Josh Schwartz, first popularized the term Chrismukkah to refer to an interfaith family celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah holidays. Brody’s Seth Cohen defined the holiday in the season 1 episode “The Best Chrismukkah Ever,” which aired in December 2003, after Benjamin McKenzie’s Ryan Atwood was preparing for his first holiday with the Cohens. (Seth’s parents, Kirsten and Sandy, were played by Kelly Rowan and Peter Gallagher, respectively.)
“So, what’s it gonna be, huh?” Seth quipped. “You want your menorah or a candy cane? Christmas and Hanukkah? Ah, don’t worry about it buddy, because in this house, you don’t have to choose. Allow me to introduce you to a little something that I like to call Chrismukkah.”
He added: “That’s right. It’s a new holiday, Ryan, and it’s sweeping the nation!”
Kirsten, who was raised celebrating Christmas, pointed out that she and Sandy, who is Jewish, did not know how to teach their son about religion. “So, I raised myself,” Seth added. “And in doing so, I created the greatest super-holiday known to mankind drawing on the best that Christianity and Judaism have to offer.”
Seth was willing to share the Chrismukkah joy with Ryan and the rest of The O.C. crew. Future holiday episodes of the Fox drama also highlighted Chrismukkah.
In real life, Brody, now 43, married Meester, who previously starred in Schwartz’s other teen hit Gossip Girl, in 2014. Brody and Meester, who share two kids, have since incorporated Chrismukkah into their own family traditions. (Chrismukkah was initially inspired by Schwartz’s own experiences growing up.)
“It’s to some extent what a lot of people probably celebrate without even knowing,” Meester told The Messenger. “[Adam] seems like he appreciates Christmas and Christmas trees and thinks that it’s a beautiful holiday. We’re not religious in any way. So part of it is lost, but we’ll do all the other stuff, too. We kind of combined, so I guess that we do it.”
Some of Meester and Brody’s other traditions involve taking advantage of Los Angeles’ often-sunny weather.
“We live in L.A., so we will often go to the beach on Christmas and take a stroll on the beach or go to the pier. That is the most L.A. thing,” she joked on Thursday. “Or we’ll hang in the pool or the jacuzzi. … The last few years I’ve been like, ‘I’m not cooking.’ So, I order food just ‘cause it is a lot of work. Now, my kids are older and it’s easier for me to enlist their help and make it easy.”
