01 December 2011

Jewish in December or The Gift of Faith - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

"Helping" Bubba Hang Lights
The ever productive Thomas MacEntee organized a blogging theme for the month of December called the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - I Remember Christmas. I was too new to blogging last year to participate, plus I am Jewish and wanted to give some thought to my contribution. For some, both Christian and Jewish, this can be a sticky topic. Not one to avoid sticky, I plan to embrace it. 


As you know I grew up Catholic and then converted to Judaism at the age of 22. I feel lucky because I have been able to fully experience two different religions in my life. There were a lot of reasons for my conversion, but the pivotal one was my (at the time) future children. More important to me than any particular religion was that my children be raised with one religion. Religion is important in that it gives you faith. Faith is personal and it is different for everyone. Faith supports you during good times and bad. It gives you something to grab when you need it and also confirms your belief in something greater. A shared belief and practice helps to tie a family together. My hope and wish was and is to give this gift to my children. 


During the first twenty four days of December, I plan to share both the Christmas traditions I loved as a child and also the new Hanukkah traditions I have come to enjoy as an adult. One of my great joys in life is discovering other people's customs and traditions and I am happy to talk religion with you anytime. I think it is important for true understanding and tolerance in the world that we learn about each other. Let's celebrate our differences. You will never be judged here on my blog. Do you practice a religion? What holiday are you celebrating this month? What is your favorite tradition? I would love to learn how you are spending December. Leave a comment, or if you are blogging about it, invite me over. I would love to go 'tree' visiting, or 'menorah' visiting, or...


My wish for you this December is a month of light, love, happiness and good times together with friends and family.


Happy December!


Scrappy Gen
Let's Remember!



3 comments:

  1. I agree that faith is more important than denomination. I don't know how people survive tragedies and other sadness without faith.

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  2. I am so looking forward to seeing how you share your traditions. As you know, we have both a Christian wing and a Jewish wing to my family... We have celebrated both faith's holiday since I married my husband. I've been wondering how to share that with my daughter this year. I'm hoping to include things that reflect both my childhood and my husbands.

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  3. Wendy, They make it through, but to me it must be a lot harder. Just took a trip to your blog, Jollett. It's great! Thanks for visiting.

    Stephanie, Let's share back and forth. Every family celebrates differently. We have lots to learn from each other.

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