You are not celebrating Christmas.

You are celebrating winter, coziness, friendship, family, and even--in some ways--being an American.

But you are not celebrating Christmas. Just as it is insulting for Christians or athiests to appropriate and misunderstand and mischaracterize the beliefs and traditions of other faiths, it is insulting for you to say that you are celebrating Christmas. Because Christmas really, truly is not about red and green and gifts to many of us. Please don't act like participating in those activities is celebrating a holy day.

Long before anyone intermarried, my family has celebrated Christmas--going back to the 1940s. It was the day everyone was off work so they got together. Hannukah was nuclear family and Christmas was the extended family. They did trees and lights and the whole thing.

It continues to this day.

Anonymous wrote:Christmas is so secular nowadays that I don’t see any problem with it. Jesus never met Santa or had a Christmas tree!

This post makes no sense -- of course, Jesus didn't -- Jesus was a Jew and never claimed to be anything else (we are all the children of God).

However, many years after his death, people created a new religion based on him (against his wishes -- I'm sure he's rolling in his grave). These new people tell Jews (such as Jesus) that they are going to hell for being Jewish (just like Jesus). They also celebrate his birth randomly at Christmas.

I'll admit that Christmas is so commercialized but it's not "secular" anymore than Hanukkah which has been Americanized and commercialized but no Christians are celebrating it. Christmas literally means the celebration of Jesus as "Christ" (gd).

That said, as a party-loving Jew, we do have a Hanukkah bush, Hanukkah stockings and basically every other Hanukkah-version of Christmas possible. Any when DS was 2 until he turned 4, so 3 years, at which point both my mom and my MIL thought it was ridiculous, DS got one present from Santa. And when he started kindergarten, we explained that Santa was just make believe and didn't visit anyone.

Anonymous wrote:No, we never did growing up and I find it inappropriate. In a mixed marriage and my husband will sometimes have it but my kids and I have no interest in it. They prefer 8 days/Hanukkah vs. Christmas but maybe because they get most of their gifts then.

There is no preference because my Jewish kids don’t choose or compare the holidays. Hanukkah is our tradition while Christmas is very much a national tradition. The White House Christmas Tree is for my kids too. Santa is a myth for all kids - not just Christian ones.

I honestly have never seen the harm in being inclusive. We have Catholic friends at nearly every Shabbat and Seder.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't think of it as "celebrating," exactly. I think of it more like, "It's Halloween! Here are the fun activities we do."

"Celebrating" Christmas (or Easter) to me means religious traditions. Does anyone else feel that way?

They are religious traditions.

They are pagan traditions adopted by Christians. Jesus never mentioned the Easter bunny or what he was going to wear for Halloween!

We are Jewish and celebrate Halloween, Christmas and Easter with the secular kid crap.

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't think of it as "celebrating," exactly. I think of it more like, "It's Halloween! Here are the fun activities we do."

"Celebrating" Christmas (or Easter) to me means religious traditions. Does anyone else feel that way?

They are religious traditions.

No, we never did growing up and I find it inappropriate. In a mixed marriage and my husband will sometimes have it but my kids and I have no interest in it. They prefer 8 days/Hanukkah vs. Christmas but maybe because they get most of their gifts then.

I guess I don't think of it as "celebrating," exactly. I think of it more like, "It's Halloween! Here are the fun activities we do."

"Celebrating" Christmas (or Easter) to me means religious traditions. Does anyone else feel that way?

We are Jewish and have Santa for our special needs child. She wouldn’t understand if Santa didn’t stop at her house after she had been so good. We also have Hanukkah. Her delight is one of the best things about raising her.

Our family celebrates Christmas, Easter, Hannukah, and Purim, we just remove all the religious aspects

Christmas is so secular nowadays that I don’t see any problem with it. Jesus never met Santa or had a Christmas tree!

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we do. DH and I are Jewish and DD goes to a Jewish preschool. She wanted a tree last year so we got one. Plus herbelived nanny is Catholic so she and nanny exchanged Christmas gifts.

I am pretty sure we will do Christmas this year as well since Hanukkah is so early. May even visit Santa Claus!!

* beloved nanny

Yes, we do. DH and I are Jewish and DD goes to a Jewish preschool. She wanted a tree last year so we got one. Plus herbelived nanny is Catholic so she and nanny exchanged Christmas gifts.

I am pretty sure we will do Christmas this year as well since Hanukkah is so early. May even visit Santa Claus!!

When I was growing up, in a Southern Reform household, we hung stockings and my grandmother had the whole family over for a big meal on Christmas.

My mother (who was not raised German Reform) put down her foot at a tree, so we did not have that. No house decorations, and they stopped doing Santa when my brother was 11 (my mother had gotten increasingly uncomfortable with it).

Not even a teeny tiny bit of Jesus or angels or anything, though.

Is that what you mean?

If you are not interfaith.