The actress reveals she’s ready to introduce her daughter to the holiday, made popular by the series, too.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Chrismukkah!
While it’s been 17 years since The OC’s Seth Cohen popularized the melding of holidays on “The Best Chrismukkah Ever” back in 2003, a simple Twitter search in 2020 reveals the tradition is very much alive and well.
With Hanukkah kicking off this week, the Christmas season in full swing and “The OC” streaming in full on HBO Max, TooFab caught up with one of the show’s stars — Summer Roberts herself, Rachel Bilson — who looked back at how the beloved series became a holiday staple and confirmed she’d be more than down for some kind of reunion.
“I think it’s so cool,” she said of the show’s legacy. “As a child growing up — my dad’s Jewish, my mom was raised Catholic — so I was a Chrismukkah household, it’s really fun. I love that The OC really resonates with people and people still watch it. I think that’s super cool.”
“My daughter’s learning about Hanukkah in kindergarten and asked if we have a menorah, so I think it’ll be fun to start teaching her that and teaching her the word Chrismukkah,” she added, referring to her 6-year-old daughter with ex Hayden Christensen, Briar Rose.
During the 2003 episode, Summer surprises Seth with the best Chrismukkah gift she could think of — herself, in a Wonder Woman costume. Looking back, Bilson could only laugh. “When you’re 21, ‘Sure, I’ll put a Wonder Woman costume on!'” she exclaimed. “At 39, ‘Well, maybe not so much.'”
With the show still finding new viewers on HBO Max — the streaming service which “OC” creator Joshua Schwartz is also prepping a “Gossip Girl” revival series for — we had to ask: Would she be down for some kind of reunion, even if it’s just like the one HBO Max did for “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and is planning for “Friends”?
“I would always do something to support ‘The OC,’ to re …. anything,” said Bilson. “It’s such a fond memory for me and I’m so grateful for it. Josh is also basically my brother, so there’s also the family guilt to do it. No, I’m just kidding! Yeah, I would totally do something. I don’t know and I can’t speak for anyone else, but I would always be open to it.”
The holidays are, obviously, being celebrated a little differently this year amid the pandemic — and Bilson explains she’s doing her best to keep things as “normal” as possible for her daughter, despite the changes.
“Being a mom, just trying to not have my daughter so aware of the negativity surrounding it, how things are different, I’ve just been trying to do my best to keep things as ‘normal’ as possible,” she explained. “She started school this year, kindergarten’s online, so that’s different. but she doesn’t really know, so that was beneficial for us. Just trying to be positive and that is definitely a lot of work, but it’s been what what I’ve been trying to do.”
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As a family, they’ve been getting “real creative” in lockdown — with Bilson sharing a video to Instagram this week of her recreating an infamous Rachel Green moment from “Friends” in one of her mother’s old wedding dresses.
“[Briar’s] actually the one who took the video and she was directing me the whole time,” said Bilson, revealing her daughter filmed a version as well, but she didn’t share to to social media.
For the holidays this year, Bilson has teamed up with Amazon to help find “something for everyone” amid stay-at-home orders for many this season.
“Right now, everyone just feeling so disconnected and not being able to be with friends and family, it’s really nice to have these options to connect,” she added, praising the Echo Show 10 and Echo Dot Kids for giving people a way to spend time together — even virtually — in 2020.