I grew up in a very devout Christian home, and as a secular adult, I've been surprised by how far out of my way I have to go to encounter any religious aspects of Christmas. We still do a lot of the traditional Christmas things like reading Night Before Christmas, going to see the Nutcracker, watching Rudolph/Elf/Home Alone/Muppet Christmas Carol/Frosty/etc, and there's no mention of Christianity in any of it. This would horrify my parents, but I like that it's become more inclusive for all people! It's such a fun magical holiday!
I love seeing the traditions of other families and never thought about you needing to explain why Christmas in Connecticut is one of yours. I know you share a lot of your life but asking why you have certain traditions just seems invasive to me. We celebrate Christmas but aren’t religious… and no one asks me why we celebrate… thank you for letting us in to your family and enjoy your traditions with you!
Oh my god- I get so many comments and direct messages about it! And my first instinct is always to get defensive, even if the comment is well intentioned. I think just because I don't have a quick answer. Maybe I should just say "free will" from now on.
I was thinking about messaging you, not about why you celebrate, but if you got pushback from either Christians or Jews for celebrating. It sucks you felt you had to explain, but I also enjoyed reading what it means to you and your family.
I was curious too-not in a judgey way far from it! I am also Jewish and grew up celebrating Christmas at friend’s houses with all the tradition and enjoyed it so much. I have also evolved in to having my own Christmas and we had a tree at our house this year for the first time after having stockings yearly and my kids getting one gift from Santa. It was interesting to hear how your traditions evolved as well!
Thank you for the explanation, I was wondering, and contemplated commenting on one of your Christmas posts. Not knowing the history I thought perhaps your brother-in-law was Christian. It reminds me of a gal that I use to commute with years ago that was Muslim. She had a young child and they celebrated Christmas. She said they celebrated it as an American holiday, just like Thanksgiving, 4th of July, etc.
And there we have the true meaning and spirit of Christmas...family and love. I was baptised into the church of England as a child, have no faith at all now..but celebrate Christmas as a reminder of all those magical and loving Christmas mornings I had as a child. With many people who are no longer with us. Aso my tree is quite pathetic...but its mine and the star on the top is my Dad, who made those Christmas' as a child so magical.
I’ve always said that there is a secular Christmas that runs alongside religious Christmas. It became such a huge part of American culture that people whose religion didn’t celebrate were potentially left out, a dire fate to children. I actually push back on the people who say, “Put the Christ back in Christmas,” because they can’t have it both ways. They can’t insist that it becomes the only identity for December, complete with a Santa at every mall and carols on the radio starting Nov 1st and then lament that people don’t also dedicate their lives to a religion they don’t follow.
I grew up close with a Jewish family. I was closer to their kids than I was my cousins. We celebrated a night of Hanukkah with them and they came over on Christmas Day. My mother cooked slightly kosher meals (no mixing dairy with meat, no ham, etc). We also had them over for Easter and while we didn’t do it every year, there were plenty where we celebrated Passover with them. You can enjoy celebratory aspects of almost any holiday even if it doesn’t fall under your religion’s purview.
As a Christian I wholeheartedly agree! If people want to celebrate as a Christian holiday, by all means do so. If you want to celebrate as a secular holiday, that's great! Especially since alot of the traditions are rooted in pagan customs adopted by Christians.
As a devoutly Christian adult, I find this all just beautiful. I am not close w my siblings and that makes me sad. That your family gets together and loves each other means so much.
I love your story because it talks about the purity of the holidays and being with family and celebrating traditions - whatever their basis may be. I was raised with a Catholic mom and a Jewish dad, but we’ve always kept the Christmas celebrations especially now that my grandparents who were the religious ones are no longer with us. My daughter learned about Chanukkah (at Catholic school of all places) and when she put two and two together she realized that it was important that we start to celebrate Chanukkah as well as clearly we have a Jewish heritage. So I guess this can go both ways! It’s part of just making things work for your family - whatever that may look like!
As a very Catholic Brooklyn Girl who is obsessed with Christmas I loved reading your story and how the celebration evolved. My husband likes to say every catholic is 1/2 jewish and I always hosted my jewish friends on the main event - The "eve" and I loved attending their Passover meals. Its a NYC thing xoxo
I remember that first Hanukah Bush! I can’t believe it was so many years ago.
And I agree with one of the other commenters that asking why you celebrate Christmas is pretty invasive, especially in this day and age when Christmas has become so secular. It is a fun holiday to spend time with your family and lay around in your pajamas all day!
I remember that first Hanukkah bush too and I was shocked at how small Mazzy & Harlow are in the photo because it really doesn’t seem all that long ago. I’ve loved following along and seeing how your Christmas traditions have evolved over the years.
Merry Christmas! I have been following you since the insta2yearold days, and I love your family Christmas tradition. Even as someone who has celebrated Christmas all my life, there have been times when I’ve been judged for doing so by religious friends and family (my husband and I aren’t religious at all and weren’t raised with religion). My parents were both raised Catholic and became atheists as adults, and later my stepdad entered our lives as a fallen away Lutheran. Even so, they kept Christmas alive for my sister and me, and it’s always been my favorite holiday (second only to our very secularized Easter celebrations that revolved around dying eggs and hunting for Easter baskets). I remember one year when I was about 9 or 10, my mom’s parents came for Christmas and my grandmother got angry and asked why we bothered celebrating if we didn’t believe in the true meaning of the holiday. I was shocked, confused, and a bit angry that she was questioning our right to celebrate the holiday in our own way. So, I’ve been pleased to see how much more inclusive Christmas has become. Living in Brooklyn, it’s not uncommon to see Christmas trees in Jewish friends’ homes. The only thing missing from your photos is matching pajamas for the cousins! Happy New Year!
I absolutely love this. As a lifelong atheist who absolutely adores Christmas and what it has meant for my family (togetherness, sparkly traditions in the lead up, magic for the children, lying on the couch reading a new book the day after), this really resonated with me. The older I get, the more my friends and I have found ways to invite one another in on the holidays and traditions that are meaningful to us. I can’t think of anything better than finding more reasons to celebrate and be together.
I love seeing other families who also celebrate both holidays! My mom was Jewish and my dad is catholic, but neither were practicing, so we did secular versions of both Hanukkah and Christmas. It leaned heavier on the Christmas traditions, but I love that we also honored my mom’s heritage. My mom passed away two years ago but we still light the menorah with my kids, and they get a small gift on the first night. And one of my favorite tree ornaments that I inherited from my mom is a paper angel tree topper with a Jewish star pendant that she had purchased in Jerusalem.
Thank you for sharing! Love getting to see all the little Mazzy and Harlow pics! Our Christmas has evolved as our kids have gotten older. Now with one in college, aging parents (and one with dementia) it’s important to me to keep up some traditions wherever we end up celebrating. We tend to rotate locations since everyone lives out of state. This tends to include matching pjs and a lot of baking of specific cookies, candies, and coffee cakes for different family members. I used to see it as extra worked but now it helps tie me to those who may not be celebrating with us that year.
Love all of this! My family is not very religious but we, especially me, love Christmas. To me it really is about family and spreading joy. And I love a good Christmas tree with all of our meaningful ornaments collected over the years.
I grew up in a very devout Christian home, and as a secular adult, I've been surprised by how far out of my way I have to go to encounter any religious aspects of Christmas. We still do a lot of the traditional Christmas things like reading Night Before Christmas, going to see the Nutcracker, watching Rudolph/Elf/Home Alone/Muppet Christmas Carol/Frosty/etc, and there's no mention of Christianity in any of it. This would horrify my parents, but I like that it's become more inclusive for all people! It's such a fun magical holiday!
I love seeing the traditions of other families and never thought about you needing to explain why Christmas in Connecticut is one of yours. I know you share a lot of your life but asking why you have certain traditions just seems invasive to me. We celebrate Christmas but aren’t religious… and no one asks me why we celebrate… thank you for letting us in to your family and enjoy your traditions with you!
Oh my god- I get so many comments and direct messages about it! And my first instinct is always to get defensive, even if the comment is well intentioned. I think just because I don't have a quick answer. Maybe I should just say "free will" from now on.
I was thinking about messaging you, not about why you celebrate, but if you got pushback from either Christians or Jews for celebrating. It sucks you felt you had to explain, but I also enjoyed reading what it means to you and your family.
I was curious too-not in a judgey way far from it! I am also Jewish and grew up celebrating Christmas at friend’s houses with all the tradition and enjoyed it so much. I have also evolved in to having my own Christmas and we had a tree at our house this year for the first time after having stockings yearly and my kids getting one gift from Santa. It was interesting to hear how your traditions evolved as well!
Thank you for the explanation, I was wondering, and contemplated commenting on one of your Christmas posts. Not knowing the history I thought perhaps your brother-in-law was Christian. It reminds me of a gal that I use to commute with years ago that was Muslim. She had a young child and they celebrated Christmas. She said they celebrated it as an American holiday, just like Thanksgiving, 4th of July, etc.
Yes- celebrating Christmas as an American holiday like Thanksgiving and July 4th is the perfect way of explaining it and how we think about it too.
And there we have the true meaning and spirit of Christmas...family and love. I was baptised into the church of England as a child, have no faith at all now..but celebrate Christmas as a reminder of all those magical and loving Christmas mornings I had as a child. With many people who are no longer with us. Aso my tree is quite pathetic...but its mine and the star on the top is my Dad, who made those Christmas' as a child so magical.
Enjoy your tradition.
I’ve always said that there is a secular Christmas that runs alongside religious Christmas. It became such a huge part of American culture that people whose religion didn’t celebrate were potentially left out, a dire fate to children. I actually push back on the people who say, “Put the Christ back in Christmas,” because they can’t have it both ways. They can’t insist that it becomes the only identity for December, complete with a Santa at every mall and carols on the radio starting Nov 1st and then lament that people don’t also dedicate their lives to a religion they don’t follow.
I grew up close with a Jewish family. I was closer to their kids than I was my cousins. We celebrated a night of Hanukkah with them and they came over on Christmas Day. My mother cooked slightly kosher meals (no mixing dairy with meat, no ham, etc). We also had them over for Easter and while we didn’t do it every year, there were plenty where we celebrated Passover with them. You can enjoy celebratory aspects of almost any holiday even if it doesn’t fall under your religion’s purview.
As a Christian I wholeheartedly agree! If people want to celebrate as a Christian holiday, by all means do so. If you want to celebrate as a secular holiday, that's great! Especially since alot of the traditions are rooted in pagan customs adopted by Christians.
As a devoutly Christian adult, I find this all just beautiful. I am not close w my siblings and that makes me sad. That your family gets together and loves each other means so much.
I love your story because it talks about the purity of the holidays and being with family and celebrating traditions - whatever their basis may be. I was raised with a Catholic mom and a Jewish dad, but we’ve always kept the Christmas celebrations especially now that my grandparents who were the religious ones are no longer with us. My daughter learned about Chanukkah (at Catholic school of all places) and when she put two and two together she realized that it was important that we start to celebrate Chanukkah as well as clearly we have a Jewish heritage. So I guess this can go both ways! It’s part of just making things work for your family - whatever that may look like!
As a very Catholic Brooklyn Girl who is obsessed with Christmas I loved reading your story and how the celebration evolved. My husband likes to say every catholic is 1/2 jewish and I always hosted my jewish friends on the main event - The "eve" and I loved attending their Passover meals. Its a NYC thing xoxo
I remember that first Hanukah Bush! I can’t believe it was so many years ago.
And I agree with one of the other commenters that asking why you celebrate Christmas is pretty invasive, especially in this day and age when Christmas has become so secular. It is a fun holiday to spend time with your family and lay around in your pajamas all day!
I remember that first Hanukkah bush too and I was shocked at how small Mazzy & Harlow are in the photo because it really doesn’t seem all that long ago. I’ve loved following along and seeing how your Christmas traditions have evolved over the years.
Merry Christmas! I have been following you since the insta2yearold days, and I love your family Christmas tradition. Even as someone who has celebrated Christmas all my life, there have been times when I’ve been judged for doing so by religious friends and family (my husband and I aren’t religious at all and weren’t raised with religion). My parents were both raised Catholic and became atheists as adults, and later my stepdad entered our lives as a fallen away Lutheran. Even so, they kept Christmas alive for my sister and me, and it’s always been my favorite holiday (second only to our very secularized Easter celebrations that revolved around dying eggs and hunting for Easter baskets). I remember one year when I was about 9 or 10, my mom’s parents came for Christmas and my grandmother got angry and asked why we bothered celebrating if we didn’t believe in the true meaning of the holiday. I was shocked, confused, and a bit angry that she was questioning our right to celebrate the holiday in our own way. So, I’ve been pleased to see how much more inclusive Christmas has become. Living in Brooklyn, it’s not uncommon to see Christmas trees in Jewish friends’ homes. The only thing missing from your photos is matching pajamas for the cousins! Happy New Year!
I love this! And honestly “because we want to” is a perfectly acceptable response!
Thank you for sharing so many of your traditions with us - and how they have evolved!
I absolutely love this. As a lifelong atheist who absolutely adores Christmas and what it has meant for my family (togetherness, sparkly traditions in the lead up, magic for the children, lying on the couch reading a new book the day after), this really resonated with me. The older I get, the more my friends and I have found ways to invite one another in on the holidays and traditions that are meaningful to us. I can’t think of anything better than finding more reasons to celebrate and be together.
I love seeing other families who also celebrate both holidays! My mom was Jewish and my dad is catholic, but neither were practicing, so we did secular versions of both Hanukkah and Christmas. It leaned heavier on the Christmas traditions, but I love that we also honored my mom’s heritage. My mom passed away two years ago but we still light the menorah with my kids, and they get a small gift on the first night. And one of my favorite tree ornaments that I inherited from my mom is a paper angel tree topper with a Jewish star pendant that she had purchased in Jerusalem.
Thank you for sharing! Love getting to see all the little Mazzy and Harlow pics! Our Christmas has evolved as our kids have gotten older. Now with one in college, aging parents (and one with dementia) it’s important to me to keep up some traditions wherever we end up celebrating. We tend to rotate locations since everyone lives out of state. This tends to include matching pjs and a lot of baking of specific cookies, candies, and coffee cakes for different family members. I used to see it as extra worked but now it helps tie me to those who may not be celebrating with us that year.
Love all of this! My family is not very religious but we, especially me, love Christmas. To me it really is about family and spreading joy. And I love a good Christmas tree with all of our meaningful ornaments collected over the years.