Reply to Interfaith families raising Jewish kids -- talk to me about the December dilemma

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We celebrate both in our house too.  DW was brougt up vaguely Catholic, I was brought up Jewish.  We agreed to raise the kids Jewish, but DW wanted to keep the tradition of celebrating Christmas - and I don't blame her.

So we have a secular Christmas - a tree, ornaments, Christmas morning, Santa - the whole kit and kaboodle, but no Jesus.  It's just a special time to create memories and be with family and appreciate everything we have.

But we go to Temple, kids have been Bar Mitzvahed, and we celebrate all the Jewish holidays.

The kids get it.  They understand that they are Jewish kids, and a secular Christmas doesn't make them any less so.

Christmas and Chanukah both have their origins as pagan holidays anyway.[/quote]

[b]I wonder what your kids' families will be like -- I suspect even less Jewish, the way things are going[/b]. [/quote]

Due to a remarriage, my Jewish "grandfather-in-law" (born in 1918) celebrated Christmas as a child. He passed that tradition on to his daughters who both managed to marry nice Jewish men and b'nai mitzvah all four of their children all the while putting up an annual Christmas tree. Of those children, three of the four married Jewish partners and all eight of their children either have been or will be b'nai mitzvahed. Jews stop practicing their faith for a wide variety of reasons. I don't imagine that a desire to embrace Christmas is one of the main ones. [/quote]

Interesting -- does that next generation celebrate a secular Christmas too?[/quote]

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