Tomorrow is Halloween. My kid is very excited, of course. Tonight we put together her homemade ghost costume, and talked about how she’ll put it on tomorrow evening after dinner and then we will go trick-or-treating.

She can’t wait for Halloween. I can’t wait for the day after.

Normally I get a big kick out of her enthusiasm for spooky fun. She comes by it honestly; my late father was obsessed with Halloween. But this year, I’m frankly counting down the minutes until we’re in November.

I want to get past Halloween already, because I’m living through arguably the scariest time of my life, and I’m desperate enough for good feelings that I find myself eagerly awaiting the inundation of holiday season hoopla. Normally I get a little irritated by the all-consuming commercialized inescapability of Christmas. Not this year. This year I suddenly find myself hotly anticipating it.

I’m a despairing Jewish woman whose morale has sunk so low that I actually want Christmas cheer to help pull me out of it. How sick is that?

The holiday season has a way of making people behave nicer to each other, be more compassionate with each other, if only for a little while. In an age where the whole world seems to be rooting for the extermination of my people, it’s no wonder I want to try to live vicariously.

Is there enough Christmas spirit, enough spreading of peace and joy, to go around? Is there enough to spare for a Jew living in fear and fighting against the anguish that threatens to engulf us all?

Is there anyone out there who can spare a gentle thought or word for the world’s Jews? Not today, perhaps, or tomorrow…but maybe the day after?