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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP's husband married a Jew, committed to raising Jewish children and lives in a Jewish home. Everyone who opines on how OP married a Christian and that means she has to live in an interfaith household and accommodate non-Jewish traditions are simply wrong. OP's home is a Jewish one and she is well within her rights to live in her Jewish home as she wishes. Her SD is a new and very welcomed guest in her home, but if there is any accommodation required, it is from the SD, who is not living in a Christian home.

To everyone who thinks trees are no big deal and that OP should just "compromise" by allowing a tree in her home, you just don't get it. For many Jews, a Christmas tree is a huge Christian symbol and they believe that this symbol has no place in a Jewish home. There is nothing wrong with that belief. It isn't a compromise to allow a tree just because you, the dominant culture, think it is a fine secular thing. It doesn't matter what you think. For many Jews, it is not at all a secular thing and it is a big deal and there is nothing wrong in that.

OP is trying, correctly so, in my opinion, to make everyone, including her Christian SD, comfortable in her home. A small tree in some area of her home is a very generous accommodation. Anything else that feels like it compromises her Jewish home is not appropriate.

OP's husband is a lucky man for having such a thoughtful spouse.[/quote]

OP's husband's child is a guest in the house? It's not her home even though she's living htere? I guess that makes OP's step-daughter homeless, which is pretty crappy.[/quote]

Exactly!  [/quote]

No kidding. I don't think OP is as harsh as the PP above who calls it "simply wrong." SD is part of the family. As is DH, who hasn't converted. SD existed before OP married, and what would have happened had the ex-wife died before the step kids were 18? Would they not have been welcomed in OP's home then? OP has defined the home as Jewish in order to raise her and DH's kids in the faith, but she can't deny the existence of the step kids with a different faith, who should feel this is their home too.

Agree.

Having a Christmas tree to make a step daughter to feel at home is part of being a blended family.  It doesn't interfere with the OP raising her kids Jewish.[/quote][/quote]

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