1. Hanukkah has multiple spellings: Hanukkah, Hanukka, Chanuka, and Chanukah.

2. It's important to double check (using a calendar, not a person) which is the actual first night of Hanukkah. We accidentally lit our first candles on Monday, December 3rd. Whoops. Sorry, Maccabees.

3. If you received a menorah as a gift from your in-laws, be sure the count the candles included in the box they gave with the menorah. If the box seems to be missing any candles for whatever reason [insert tasteless yet funny Jewish joke here], buy some more. You'll need 44 total, according to our mathematically-inclined sources.

4. Firefly makes some damn good latkes. They also do a lovely job of continuing dinner service during a power outage.

5. Not every non-Jew lady likes being called a shiksa. Apparently, it's offensive or something... We think it's rad and love our shiksa-goddess status.

6. The phrase "Heebie Jeebies" is NOT anti-semitic at all. So get over it. Jeez. (Heh.)

7. Hanukkah is all about latkes and macaroons. The entree is SO over. See ya, brisket.

8. Hanukkah is the new black.

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said, "Wouldn't a kinder, gentler Gawker be hideously unreadable? No, we never talked about that. It would be hysterical but we haven't."

Londonist was proud to announce the winner of this year's Turner Prize was Mark Wallinger who made long-standing London protester Brian Haw a work of art, after he has previously been made into a sort of law due to his lengthy banner-waving vigil outside parliament. The strength of the pound made real in the form of a 25 foot high coin on a quiet patch of the Thames river bank, aiming to inspire all Londoners in a publicly voted decision on spending £50 million Lottery money. Perhaps some new play projects for London kids who, for the lack of youthful entertainment, are trying to amuse themselves by collecting prostitute calling cards, which are worryingly rigged and booby-trapped. And for those who are anticipating a lovely fat check from a great-aunt this Christmas and wondering what to spend it on, the London Marathon will need a new sponsor after 2009. How does The Londonist London Marathon sound?

Bostonist ducked and covered when a gas tanker tipped over and exploded in the nearby town of Everett. No one got hurt, but cars and homes were destroyed in the blaze. Making matters worse, the driver of the tanker had a few smudges on his record. Bostonist was then agog as their former governor, who usually doesn't hang out in Massachusetts that much, made the news in every possible way. Mitt Romney gave a speech about every religion except his own. However, several other individuals were more interested in the news that Romney still had illegal immigrants working at his mansion. In other Mitt-free news, transit police put out the alert for a "Green Line Groper" who had been making the lives of high-school teens extremely unpleasant. Bostonist also joined a polyamory club and found out that polyamorous people are a lot like normal people, only with more variety.

Our sister site, Gothamist, snapped up this image of the perfect dinner idea for all of you interfaith couples out there who don't know how to celebrate the first night of Chanukah together.

We got a jump start on the minor Jewish holiday with a plate full of corned-beef and cabbage last night. (And we're not even chosen ones!) If we had only known that the rules of kosher dining were now so flexible, we would have added a tasty velouté sauce to our meal. Oy.