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Thursday, December 13, 2007

It's that time of year again

I found this great post on Penolope Trunk's Brazen Careerist blog titled Five things people say about Christmas that drive me nuts. All I can add to her post is amen. My radio station plays Christmas music exclusively and they don't play Grandma got run over by a reindeer that often (thank goodness for my audiobooks) and yesterday I bought a Chanukah gift bag and the cashier STILL asked me if I've done my Christmas shopping yet. I cannot wait for this season to end.

2 comments:

email said...

I clicked over to the Brazen Careerist and read the post. It was very interesting. It surprises me that a Christian would say the holiday is not religious. Of course it is! Or at least it is supposed to be; I know it has turned into just a big commercialized month of supposedly good cheer that is really normally decent people pushing and shoving to get the last Wii on the shelf.

I had a brief experience once of being a minority - racial, not religious, though I guess Jewish would be both racial AND religious. Having never been a minority before, it was an odd feeling. Everyone was being perfectly nice and friendly, and yet as one of the only two white people in the room, I felt very out of place. I don't like drawing attention to myself, but boy was I, simply because I looked different than everyone else. So while everyone was nice and accepting of me, it was uncomfortable for me. I think what I'm driving at here, but probably missing entirely, is that I kind of get what you are saying.

That said, I LOVE Christmas. But as a Christian, I should. And we DO treat it as a religious holiday. I don't go around wishing people a merry one, though, for exactly the reason that I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. I'm aware that not everyone is Christian; in fact, worldwide I believe Christians do not account for the majority of people. If someone says it to me first, I do.

Here's a question for you: My daughter's piano teacher is Jewish. She wants to give him a little something (not a Christmas present - she knows he's Jewish) as an end-of-the-year appreciation sort of thing. How should she do that without it coming off as a Christmas gift? The only time we are going to see him before next year is next Wednesday. I'm thinking a thank-you note along with the gift, no mention of happy holidays, seasons greetings, just a thank-you.

Fern Chasida said...

Hey there! Loved your 7 things (I commented there). Yes, including just a thank you note would be great, none of that Happy holidays (we know you don't celebrate Christmas but get with the program). And it's nice to know there are people who celebrate the real meaning of the holiday and not just a shopfest. So enjoy the holiday!