Hanukkah and Christmas – the “December dilemma”. I never liked that term “dilemma”. Not that there isn’t an element of difficulty for an interfaith household, but the word made it seem so dire. I think I would prefer, December Questions, because it all boils down to a lot of questions. The core one being, how…
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I just can’t give up Christmas
Christmas is magical. The mystic that has been built around it in America is demonstrated in every store and television special. What we expect to feel – and what many do feel – about the entire Christmas season is a sense of elation. If you have loved Christmas all your life then there are…
Read More »The Question of Santa
A mom wrote me with this question: Last year we took our preschool age daughter to celebrate Christmas with the Christian relatives. Everything went smoothly because she was so young and didn’t ask any questions. This year she knows that we are helping to celebrate her cousins’ holiday not ours, but she is asking…
Read More »Christmas for your Child
Let’s talk about Christmas for the children in an interfaith family. Let me remind you of two truths: 1. Your child is not exactly like anyone else, so you can’t duplicate another parent’s choices. 2. Your child is not so unique that you can’t learn from other parents. In today’s world there is a bonus,…
Read More »Planning for the Christmas season
Perhaps you are raising your kids as Jews and you celebrate Christmas. Maybe you are still trying to find the right words to use to describe your decision to your kids, extended family or friends. I’m going to focus on the kids and what comes from this should work for adults. First, talk with…
Read More »Thinking about Santa
Thinking about Christmas I have spoken to several people about Christmas and I want to reiterate what I hope you all will do – don’t try to change your observance of the holidays now. It’s too late in the year to suddenly tell your sweetheart that you can’t bear to have a Christmas tree…
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