IFF considers whether people are still wrapped up in to tree or not to tree (see "Trees Are Sensitive"). For me, that's not the (only) question (see here for previous ruminations on this topic) -- but to say that it's not all-important isn't to say that it's unimportant. The tree issue is settled for me, but there are other December dilemmas:
- Is it special pleading, or totally reasonable, that I won't buy the Laurie Berkner Christmas album for my daughter/didn't take her to the recent concert touting the album (even though she is craaaaaaazy about Laurie Berkner) but am thinking I'll be bringing her with us to hear Advent Lessons & Carols conducted by one of my husband's colleagues in a church service? (I can explain it, really! But I suspect that it'll sound pretty fishy to some...)
- Do I wear my eye-popping Hanukkah sweater (blue with sequins + silver/gold stars of David: a gift from my Catholic mother-in-law; I think of it as my don't-wish-me-a-Merry-Christmas sweater) when I bring my girl to a gingerbread-house-decorating event for alumnae of the Episcopalian girls' school I went to for four years (where I had wayyy more fellow Jewish students in my grade than I'd had in public elementary school, FYI), in response to their suggestion that "Holiday attire is encouraged"? Would it be caving to the majority Xmas-color-scheme-ism to dress my daughter in an adorable hand-me-down outfit of red jumper & white lacy collared shirt, both sporting embroidered gingerbread men [persons? they're not evidently gendered] with green-and-red accents?
- My non-Jewish relatives want me to give them holiday gift suggestions: is it nicely ecumenical, or too religious-culture-clash-y, if I include items I'm genuinely interested in but that jump right into the business of religious difference, such as the Jewish Annotated New Testament or ‘Twas the Night Before Hanukkah: The Musical Battle Between Christmas and the Festival of Lights? (Maybe I should stick with chocolate and scented soaps...)
Happy holidays, y'all!
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