I have plenty I'd like to say on the subject.
A few quick things:
-I do not get offended when someone wishes me a Merry Christmas. I really don't care. I say, "Happy Holidays!" because it encompasses New Year's as well.
-It's not my holiday. I've said this for years. Mayim agrees and I loved her blog post this year. Click on the link and read it for yourself....but, then, please come back here and finish reading this blog. Or, go there after you've read this. Or, whatever...I don't want to be too controlling. (Hmmm...New Year's resolution?)
-I do not remember what we did on Christmas when I was a child. Maybe we went for Chinese food and/or to the movies. Maybe we went to non-Jewish friends' homes to celebrate. I don't know. I don't remember. My selective memory seems to be a theme on this blog.
-I think I had a few other "quick things" but I seem to have forgotten them. Please see above.
The thing that I most strongly want to write about is the way I've celebrated Christmas as a married woman.
In both of my marriages I have been part of an interfaith family, yet in extremely different ways. My ex-husband's family was Southern Baptist. He grew up Southern Baptist and then decided to become a Jew, but never followed through on the conversion process. So, essentially, he was nothing. In fact, that's just one of the many reasons why our marriage ended, but that's an entirely different can of worms to open at a later date.
My current family is interfaith in a much more complicated way. If it gets confusing, just realize that we're a big mixed bunch. Hang on for the ride. My husband is Jewish, but his ex-wife is Catholic. Our children are being raised with both religions and experiencing both fully. My in-laws are divorced and both re-married. My husband's mother is a Jew-by-choice (which is a clever way of saying that she converted to Judaism) and she is married to a Christian man. My father-in-law is Jewish, but his wife is Anglican. So, my husband's stepparents and his maternal aunt, uncles, and cousins all celebrate Christmas...and that means so do we.
Due to advice from friends and other bloggers and due to the fact that I can't ever make a long story short:
TO BE CONTINUED...
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