That holiday armadillo 'Friends' episode really hits home this Christmas/Hanukkah season.
I have never related to Ross Geller so hard.
I have a lot of complicated feelings about Ross from “Friends” (this isn’t the time or place for them!!) but I have never felt for him more than I did while watching “The One With the Hanukkah Armadillo.”
In the episode, Ross tries to pass down the magic of Hanukkah to his son, Ben, with whom he is finally getting to spend the winter holidays with. Instead, Ben shares factoids about Santa with him and breaks out into Christmas songs, including “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (which, to be fair, was written by Johnny Marks, aka the Mr. Christmas of the music world, who was Jewish and didn’t actually celebrate Christmas at all, so an unwittingly Jewish moment for Ben).
I too, like Ross, have felt like telling my kid that when it comes to Christmas and Hanukkah, “it is not a competition!!” And my kid doesn’t even celebrate Christmas. He just has a somewhat depressing holiday game in which he tallies the number of Hanukkah things vs. Christmas things in a place and realizes how Hanukkah falls short (he’s done this at the Target holiday aisle, with his school’s spirit week ugly sweaters, at the holiday market and at many other events and places — the only place where Hanukkah “won” was at the Jewish-owned “dollar store” chain Amazing Savings).
Ross’ resolve to make this a Hanukkah to remember for Ben crumbles faster than a stale Christmas cookie (or an insufficiently starchy latke?) when he sees Ben’s heartbreak at the fact that Santa isn’t coming. I honestly feel this so much, because children are better at crumbling our resolve than Cookie Monster is at crumbling cookies (yes, I feel the need to carry this cookie metaphor through, also I am in Sesame Street mourning following the news about HBO dropping the show).
Yet when Ross goes to find a Santa outfit, he discovers that they aren’t available so close to Christmas. The closest thing he can procure? A truly enchanting costume of an armadillo.
Rewatching the episode, I’m stunned at how good this costume is. Truly award-worthy. The way the tail bounces? A miracle of miracles. The texture and proportionate size of the armadillo shell to Ross’ figure? Chef’s kiss.
Ben doesn’t buy the whole “holiday armadillo being Santa’s helper” thing right away, though he does buy that it isn’t his father in a costume, which is a little hard to believe. But soon, the presents come out and he’s enchanted, he’s even excited to find out that the creature is Jewish, like him! And as Ross gets ready to tell him all about the Maccabees… Chandler walks through the door dressed like Santa and completely foils his plan.
There’s something about Santa crashing in on the Hanukkah magic at the most inopportune moment that feels so, so real. That sleigh riding, chimney climbing, cookie loving (see, we can bring it back to cookies!) weasel!
Anyway, despite another interruption from Joey dressed as Superman (who also has Jewish origins!!!) Ross does manage to bring the magic of Hanukkah home, thanks to help from Chandler/Santa and Joey/Superman (who apparently flew the Jews out of Egypt). They even manage to light the Hanukkah candles together to the sound of “Fiddler on the Roof’s” tradition, because apparently neither Ross nor Monica (nor Rachel, who we’ve established is Jewish!) know the Hanukkah blessings. Yes the Jewish representation in “Friends” is strange indeed, but I still appreciate that this is a story that inspires hope for Jewish parents dealing with this whole Christmas/Hanukkah competition (OK, fine, it is a contest but everybody wins their own magic holiday in the end, so maybe that’s OK). Thank you, Ross Geller.
Some other thoughts I had while watching this episode:
Monica is really not believable as a Jewish aunt in this episode!! She just stands there as a spectator!! Monica, it’s your job to make Hanukkah magical, too!!
But also is Monica being attracted to Chandler in a Santa suit actually a commentary on her relationship to Judaism and her desire to distance herself from it?
I do like her joke about the armadillo being Jewish because he too has wandered the desert for a long time. Maybe she does care about being Jewish after all.
That menorah they light by the window is definitely not kosher.
IDT the Geller siblings know what a kosher menorah is.
Where are the latkes???? These six would have such a good argument about applesauce vs. sour cream!!
Are you a fan of the holiday armadillo? Do you have strong feelings about the Hanukkah vs. Christmas “competition”? Let me know in the comments!
Yes, I like the Hanukkah armadillo episode too. Now as far as Monica and being Jewish is concerned, if you notice in later episodes she is wearing a cross. So either they decided to make the parents a mixed marriage or the actress didn't like being thought of as Jewish (even though her exhusband is Jewish).
And yes children are really drawn to Christmas. And why wouldn't they be? When my younger son was 7 years old, I went to the local gourmet store and bought him a cookie in the shape of a Christmas tree. Just something fun so he wouldn't feel totally left out. But when I told him what I had bought for him, he only heard the words Christmas tree and was very excited.
"You bought a Christmas tree!"
I told him that I bought a cookie not a Christmas tree.
Without missing a beat, his response was, "well I can have a tree, I'm half christian." (No he is not)
"No, you are not," I responded. And there was a general look of disappointment on his face. But he did get his cookie.
Apparently, alot of his friends at school were from mixed marriages so they have both Christmas and Hanukkah and he decided he would try his luck.
It's not easy being a Jewish child during December.
Thanks, EKB. Great comments. I never noticed Monica's cross.
Creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman--Jewish. David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow--Jewish. I'm guessing a number of the writers were Jewish. So how could Friends be so tone-deaf about Judaism and its customs?
I guess for me, I was just happy to see so many Jewish actors, male and female, and, like everyone else, I was drawn to the ensemble. Apply a critical eye, and it's a bit disappointing. But Ross as an armadillo? How can that not be funny?
Compared the Judaism-free Seinfeld with its completely Jewish zeitgeist, and Friends looks a lot better.