#1. I’m Jewish. So actually I have no business writing about Christmas. Or confessions.
#2. I grew up in a kosher home. We also hung stockings and got presents Christmas morning.
#3. My husband is Christian. We celebrate Christmas with his family; and he doesn’t even mind that we don’t have a Christmas tree.
#4. I always yearned for a Christmas tree.
#5. I stopped yearning for a tree when my first husband (who was Jewish) surprised me and the kids one year with a Christmas tree— in a box.
#6. I have pictures of me sitting on Santa’s lap as a child. And as an adult.
#7. I love Christmas songs. Especially singing them.
#8. When I was a kid, I sang Christmas songs but I would never pronounce the word “Christ”– because I was afraid something bad would happen to me.
#9. I love getting Christmas cards with family pictures. Except the ones that include annual summaries of astounding achievements by your children.
#10. This post is a repeat from last Christmas.
I especially loved number 8 🙂
you thought something bad would happen to you if you sang/said Christ as a kid? that is funny/i mean sad. which reminds me, how do you do your strike thru thing? when you type a word and then strike thru it.
I agree with #9. I will have to tell you a story about that sometime. One of my Jewish friends told me that she always wanted a tree too, so her family always decorated a Hanukkah bush. Hmmmm, makes me want one of those…
Maybe leaving out the word Christ was my compromise for preferring “Silent Night” instead of “I have a little Dreidel.” Who knows where kids come up with this kind of stuff?
It makes as much sense as my parents—who refused to have a tree or a Hanukah bush but let us hang stockings (and filled them) and took us to visit Santa.
I always thought all Jewish kids want Christmas trees and all non-Jewish kids want 8 nights of presents.
Lynn–would love to hear your story on Xmas cards–I’ve always wanted to send out a funny version of our family’s year. The problem isn’t the summary—I’m never organized enough to send out cards.
Stacy–the strikeout thing is an inside secret of bloggers—do magicians tell you how they do a trick? LOL.
so smiling about #8
10. This is a classic. Kind of like Art Buchwald’s annual Thanksgiving column. I will look forward to seeing it again next year.
Btw, the Xmas stocking tradition has warped another generation. Ask our kids. And, try to get permission from Aaron to publish his letter to Santa.
Two weeks before Christmas many years ago, all the Jewish employees in my company (all 4 of us out of 100) decorated the tree in the lobby, and none of the Christian employees helped.
For us, it was a novelty, and we had a ball.
Your number 8 brings back memories from 2nd grade when we sang O Come All Ye Faithful in our school’s Christmas pageant. I just couldn’t bring myself to sing “Christ, the lord”. It’s odd how that kind of stuff sticks with you throughout your lifetime.
Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, and New Year.
I am a Lithojewaian (Mother, Lithuanian-American Catholic; Dad a reformed Jew) they never celebrated anything. So, when the family hired a Peruvian family to help us with housekeeping and nanny duties, one of the sister’s had a big influence on me. She had this huge statute of the Blessed Mother. So, after numerous questions, I converted to Catholocism.
But I love Judiasm and still celebrate when invited.
By the way, I went through all the conversion processes at St. Patricks, and it is AWESOME at midnight mass or anytime.
Paul, gotta admit my kids hung up stockings too. Material to add next year.
Love your story Rick, and convinced no one loves Christmas trees like Jews. LOL.
Also thanks on behalf of Stacy, Christine and anyone wondering about #8– and why I wasn’t the only Jewish kid who didn’t want to verbalize “Christ the lord.”
Denise—As a converted Catholic, hope you’re loving these confessions as much as I am!
I even love getting the braggy Chrismas letters, so I can mock them.
The thing that frightens me most about the Christmas letters, all the accomplishments, all the perfection is that maybe it’s really true for those families, and where does that leave mine? I like to think that dysfunction reigns, but what if it doesn’t?
Happy Holidays, Darryle.
Marla: I’m convinced no one, and no family, gets a smooth ride forever. If those families aren’t dysfunctional yet, someday they will be. LOL. Meanwhile I recommend what magpie does: mock them. And feel grateful for our own families, dysfunctional or not.
Yes, Darryle, and I remember that I was the only Jewish kid in the class who would say “Christ” when we sang Christmas songs…
Caren, isn’t it funny the things we remember? Apparently you were a much braver kid than I was.