I'm attempting to write a Bolt while driving through Times Square during Holiday Season. With Chanukah around the corner, the streets are packed. The constant flutter of lights provide a magnificent backdrop to the cool early winter breeze. From a cursory glance it seems that everybody here is happy. On the inside, though, we all vary in our degree of happiness.
There is a famous distinction made between Purim and Chanukah. Purim is a day of משתה ושמחה- drinking and joy. Chanukah, on the other hand, is a day of הלל והודאה- praise and gratitude. Why the distinction?
The Rebbe Reb Henoch of Alexander postulates that Purim primarily celebrates a physical salvation; we were supposed to be killed. To stand at the brink of death, and suddenly find oneself given a second chance at life - is a feeling that was equally intense and joyous to all the Jewish people. This joy and revelry is echoed in our celebration of Purim.
Chanukah was an attempt to eradicate not the Jewish people but rather the Jewish religion. The feeling that one feels when he or she is about to witness the annihilation of their personal religion and suddenly their religion is restored is not equal for each and every person. For some people the feeling of gratitude is powerful and overwhelming, for others the feeling is less palpable. Therefore, the celebratory joyous meal was not mandated on Chanukah but rather הלל והודאה- praise and gratitude, thus allowing us to express our appreciation and recognition of what it means to be Jewish, each person at their own level.
(Based upon this thesis we can also suggest why Chanukah is adorned with the special custom of lighting the Chanukah candles in a special voluntary mode known as מהדרין מן מהדרין)