This year the Hanukkah menorah competes for mantel space with a pair of Christmas stockings and swag. Overhanging the Christmas tree in the crowded living room is a metallic ribbon of glittery dreidels and Jewish stars. A Kwanzaa kinara, a candelabra, is wedged into the front window.

''Welcome to Chrismahanukwanzakah," said David Balsom, whose blended family has celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa since he and his wife, Tasha, adopted their two children, both black, who are now teenagers.