Off putting fed holiday celebration or am I being too sensitive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Jewish person, I wouldn't be super happy about a wreath decorating contest. HOWEVER... as a competitive person, I'd make damn sure my wreath won.

Me too but I'd make it my Hanukkah wreath or do something really bizarre to annoy everyone.

I’m Jewish and have seasonal wreaths up year-round. Right now I have a gorgeous custom-made faux greenery wreath with blue, silver, and gold tones. It doesn’t overtly “say” anything but winter. You guys are thinking way too much about this.

Your the only Jewish person I know who does it.

Likewise. Jew here and even my Jewish family and friends who married Christians don't put up wreaths. (They are all raising the kids Jewish.)

It does sound like a beautiful wreath though! I am all for people decorating however they want. But it still doesn't erase the association, just like if a Christian put up a menorah, it would still be a Hanukkah symbol.

I guess I am weird then. I definitely don’t associate all wreaths with Christianity. In fact, it literally never occurred to me. I see my current wreath as a Hanukkah decoration! I find it very strange that you guys don’t know any Jews who put up non Christmas-y wreaths.

I will admit that I am not super religious and don’t go to services besides on holidays. Maybe that has something to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, you are over-reacting. A wreath has pagan origins, as you well know.

Pagan origins, current Christian symbol (or symbol of Christmas).

So, my summer wreath with a red, white, and blue, Stars and Stripes, and firecracker theme is a Christian symbol and a symbol of Christmas?

no. it's a corny take-off of an evergreen wreath that ONLY appears during Christmas, and is a symbol of Christmas. Not sure why everyone's being so dense about it. You're Jewish and you don't care or think it's really secular Christmas and not religious Christmas, that's fine. Be my guest. But don't pretend that an evergreen wreath with red bows that appears on your door on December 1 has nothing to do with Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Some people look for offense in everything. It's a wreath for God's sake OP, not a Christmas song/tree/whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, you are over-reacting. A wreath has pagan origins, as you well know.

Pagan origins, current Christian symbol (or symbol of Christmas).

So, my summer wreath with a red, white, and blue, Stars and Stripes, and firecracker theme is a Christian symbol and a symbol of Christmas?

no. it's a corny take-off of an evergreen wreath that ONLY appears during Christmas, and is a symbol of Christmas. Not sure why everyone's being so dense about it. You're Jewish and you don't care or think it's really secular Christmas and not religious Christmas, that's fine. Be my guest. But don't pretend that an evergreen wreath with red bows that appears on your door on December 1 has nothing to do with Christmas.

The wreath described in the last sentence is definitely a Christmas wreath, but that is not the only type of wreath that exists. A wreath decorating contest does not mean that every wreath created is a Christmas wreath. The teams can make any type of wreath they choose, celebrating any season or concept they like. Just because the activity takes place in December does not mean that the resulting wreath has to have anything at all to do with Christmas.

I know plenty of non-Christian people who decorate with wreaths all year long, and none of them are Christmas wreaths. Go to any Michael's and you'll see lots of examples of wreaths that have nothing to do with Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Jewish person, I wouldn't be super happy about a wreath decorating contest. HOWEVER... as a competitive person, I'd make damn sure my wreath won.

Me too but I'd make it my Hanukkah wreath or do something really bizarre to annoy everyone.

I’m Jewish and have seasonal wreaths up year-round. Right now I have a gorgeous custom-made faux greenery wreath with blue, silver, and gold tones. It doesn’t overtly “say” anything but winter. You guys are thinking way too much about this.

Your the only Jewish person I know who does it.

Likewise. Jew here and even my Jewish family and friends who married Christians don't put up wreaths. (They are all raising the kids Jewish.)

It does sound like a beautiful wreath though! I am all for people decorating however they want. But it still doesn't erase the association, just like if a Christian put up a menorah, it would still be a Hanukkah symbol.

I guess I am weird then. I definitely don’t associate all wreaths with Christianity. In fact, it literally never occurred to me. I see my current wreath as a Hanukkah decoration! I find it very strange that you guys don’t know any Jews who put up non Christmas-y wreaths.

I will admit that I am not super religious and don’t go to services besides on holidays. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Maybe. Could also be geography. I forget if it was this thread or another, but someone said year-round wreaths are more common in the South or in certain Jewish communities. I grew up in Philly and DH on Long Island, and neither of us knew any Jews who put up wreaths. I'm sure there were some, we just didn't know them, and our families shunned all things Christmas -- except Chinese food. I've told this story before but we have a very non-Jewish last name, and one time we went to get Chinese takeout on Christmas eve. The place was packed and the pickup line was out the door. It was a roll call of Jewish names - "Goldstein. Silver. Silverman. Cohen. Cohen. Green." etc. Then they get to us and yell "Smith!" and there was a palpable hush. It felt like the stereotypical scene in movies where the whole place goes silent and everyone turns to stare. We were like "uh, yeah, that's us, yeah, we're Jewish too, thanks, bye."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And, I place wreaths on my door all year long. Search wreaths on Pinterest. Fall weather, spring wreaths, Valentine's day wreaths, summer wreaths, winter wreaths, and holiday wreaths.

It's not a special thing done only at Christmas.

A lot of people only do it at Christmas though. And that is surely the case for these workplaces.

Maybe in DC. In other places I have lived most single family homes have some sort of wreath (non religious) most of the year. There are football wreaths, flip flop wreaths, beach wreaths, fall wreaths, flower wreaths for spring. It's for fun and to add some color. Two of my old friends sell them year round.

In contrast, most of my neighbors here never put out wreaths, even during the holidays. I find it somewhat depressing. I don't associate door decorating and wreaths only with religious holidays.

Interesting. I did not know that. I've lived in CT, PA, DC, and MD, and in all these areas the wreaths were primarily Christmas-related.

I’ve lived all over (California, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania). We are agnostic and have seasonal wreaths. Just took off the fall themed one, the pine one hasn’t gone up yet. I don’t see wreaths on a lot of doors all year, but some. Along with the cute yard flags for the season. Or the mailbox decoration. Or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Pretend yours is a funeral wreath.

[Anonymous]

My office does holiday themed things through December. It's fun and festive and most people like it. If you don't participate, no big deal. So we had door decorating contest. Not one was "Christian", but a couple Santa themed ones - like the "SElfie Booth" and Santa's workshop. The door my team did was a snowman. Then there's gingerbread houses that we are building this week (I am not joking). I will not be helping with that one.
We have a holiday party at a bowling alley this week. Followed by a potluck during lunch next week.
In January we have "Souper Bowl Sundae" with soup, sandwiches, and sundaes.
Two months ago we were in a big project and literally the leadership team (which I'm part of) brought in lunch weekly for the teams for over a month. Bowls of snacks filled up daily. Ice cream sundaes served every couple weeks.
Three months ago that it was the huge center picnic and awards ceremony (including a volleyball tournament).
A month before that is was the smaller office picnic.
There's wheelchair basketball to raise money for charities. There's the office volleyball team. There's some outing or another at least once a month. I do not go or participate in most of it. But I do think office bonding helps with team morale.
Yes, the reason for holiday celebrations in December is predominantly because of Christmas. But it's also for morale. If there wasn't a religious holiday, I think my office would still do "something" because my office is always doing "something." And to give people some light in the dead of winter when we go into work when its dark and leave work when its dark. Winter is pretty depressing for a lot of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, is my tax payer money going towards this?

No, their tax payer money is going towards it, because feds pay taxes too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for a large federal agency. Every year, we have a holiday party. This year, as part of the celebration, there is a wreath decorating contest, where each team of attorneys is given a wreath to decorate using any theme or materials. As a non-Christian, I find this activity incredibly alienating and insensitive. Am I overreacting?

Oh God

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm you may be talking about my office. Only one person had a religious theme to their wreath last year, and that too is within their right. I don’t even think of wreaths as religious, and I’m Christian.

We have grapevine wreaths. They’re decorated with ribbons and bows. We have a snowman, which is more winter than Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Zinke invited DOI to the office ‘Christmas’ party