Mama Talk on the holiday insanity
Merry Kiffis from us to you
Religion is a tough one in our household. To be honest, we’re a little bit of everything. I was raised mostly Jewish, with a bit of secular Christian holidays thrown in by my mom for good measure. My husband was raised Christian but has wavered back and forth with his beliefs over the years.
When Benjamin was born two years ago, I wanted him to have the option to choose his path in life when he was old enough to do so. My husband supported my decision to have a bris for our son, and I’m glad I did so, even though I don’t think I’d be strong enough to do it again. (If you’re a mom who’s actually seen your baby get circumcised, you probably know what I’m talking about.)
I choose not to eat pork and shellfish, and don’t give those foods to Ben either. When he’s older, he can make his own decisions about such things.
And holiday-wise, we don’t decorate for Christmas or have a tree in our home, but we celebrate with family at their homes and go through the traditional rigmarole because it makes everyone so happy.
My mom, who couldn’t care less about religion, but loves exchanging presents, seems to have thrown us face-first onto the Christmas-is-coming bullet train this year by introducing Ben to as many Christmas-oriented things as humanly possible. For his birthday, she bought him a big box set of classic Christmas movies, such as “Frosty the Snowman,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”
Ben is also excited about Christmas because it’s just plain attractive to little kids. He’s explored several people’s trees already (we’ve discussed “gentle one-finger touching” a few hundred times, but I think he finally gets it) and he loves to announce every single home that’s lit up whenever we are out after dark.
“Kiffis lights!” he’ll shout - repeatedly - as we drive through our neighborhood.
He also recently learned that Christmas involves presents, as we were at Grandma’s house this past weekend and she’s already placed a few under the tree.
With his birthday party fresh in his mind, Ben didn’t hesitate when he saw them. His toddler brain thought, “Ooh, presents. I know what to do with those!”
Oh dear.
I think my chances of him coming out even one-quarter Jewish as an adult are pretty low. Besides, to most Jews, it’s really an all-or-nothing kind of thing. They don’t really deal in percentages.
It also doesn’t help that I tend to have a decidedly non-Jewish affection for a nice family Christmas myself.
But don’t tell my dad, OK?
Religion is a tough one in our household. To be honest, we’re a little bit of everything. I was raised mostly Jewish, with a bit of secular Christian holidays thrown in by my mom for good measure. My husband was raised Christian but has wavered back and forth with his beliefs over the years.
When Benjamin was born two years ago, I wanted him to have the option to choose his path in life when he was old enough to do so. My husband supported my decision to have a bris for our son, and I’m glad I did so, even though I don’t think I’d be strong enough to do it again. (If you’re a mom who’s actually seen your baby get circumcised, you probably know what I’m talking about.)
I choose not to eat pork and shellfish, and don’t give those foods to Ben either. When he’s older, he can make his own decisions about such things.
And holiday-wise, we don’t decorate for Christmas or have a tree in our home, but we celebrate with family at their homes and go through the traditional rigmarole because it makes everyone so happy.
My mom, who couldn’t care less about religion, but loves exchanging presents, seems to have thrown us face-first onto the Christmas-is-coming bullet train this year by introducing Ben to as many Christmas-oriented things as humanly possible. For his birthday, she bought him a big box set of classic Christmas movies, such as “Frosty the Snowman,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”
Ben is also excited about Christmas because it’s just plain attractive to little kids. He’s explored several people’s trees already (we’ve discussed “gentle one-finger touching” a few hundred times, but I think he finally gets it) and he loves to announce every single home that’s lit up whenever we are out after dark.
“Kiffis lights!” he’ll shout - repeatedly - as we drive through our neighborhood.
He also recently learned that Christmas involves presents, as we were at Grandma’s house this past weekend and she’s already placed a few under the tree.
With his birthday party fresh in his mind, Ben didn’t hesitate when he saw them. His toddler brain thought, “Ooh, presents. I know what to do with those!”
Oh dear.
I think my chances of him coming out even one-quarter Jewish as an adult are pretty low. Besides, to most Jews, it’s really an all-or-nothing kind of thing. They don’t really deal in percentages.
It also doesn’t help that I tend to have a decidedly non-Jewish affection for a nice family Christmas myself.
But don’t tell my dad, OK?