Dealing With The December Dilemma
MixedBlessing Holiday Greeting Cards and Understanding
Ah, it’s December one again and the anxiety begins to set in for families celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. What kind of holiday cards do they send out – Christmas, Hanukkah cards, or some generic holiday greeting card? At MixedBlessing, we can answer your holiday card sending dilemma with holiday cards that incorporate the themes of both Christmas and Hanukkah. For the 2015 holiday season, we have over 50 holiday cards that reflect the meaning of respect and diversity.
If holiday cards is not the only issue you are concerned with, here are some guidelines from Interfaithfamily.com to help you through the December Dilemma.
Eight Tips for Handling the December Holidays
- Remember that it’s OK to participate in the holiday as a way to respect your spouse and extended family.
- Keep the focus on the children’s needs. What kids love most about Christmas is not the presents but the family togetherness. Help children understand they can enjoy. Christmas and Hanukkah activities without betraying either parent or their religious upbringing. Use the holidays to reinforce the children’s religious identity.
- If your Jewish child is uncomfortable with singing Christmas carols at school, ask the principal to broaden the holiday song repertoire to include Hanukkah songs.
- Rather than asking in-laws to give Christmas or Hanukkah presents, ask them to give gifts wrapped in paper that indicates the holiday the children do celebrate.
- If your children want a Christmas tree in your home, sit down with your partner and discuss what the holiday means to each of you. Be clear about underlying issues. Is it your own reluctance to have a tree or menorah in your home or is it a fear about how relatives might react?
- Giving in on a holiday becomes less significant if you remember that the main concern is to decide how your family will live religiously throughout the year, not just in December.
- Allow your initial decisions to change as you and your family evolve. Certain things that may have seemed important at one stage in your marriage may become less important later on. Pay attention to your own inner feelings.
- Develop new traditions together. Denying a need will breed resentment, but negotiating a mutually acceptable way to celebrate will strengthen the relationship and unify the family.
From www.InterfaithFamily.com
The Merger of Christmas & Hanukkah
Hanukkah and Christmas will merge, if the current trend of large-scale mergers and acquisitions continues, as it was announced today at a press conference. An industry source said that the deal had been in the works for about 1300 years. While details were not available at press time, it is believed that the overhead cost of having twelve days of Christmas and eight days of Hanukkah was becoming prohibitive for both sides. By combining forces, we’re told, the world will be able to enjoy consistently high-quality service during the Fifteen Days of Chrismukah, as the new holiday is being called.
Massive layoffs are expected, with lords a-leaping and maids a-milking being the hardest hit. As part of the conditions of the agreement, the letters on the dreydl, currently in Hebrew, will be replaced by Latin, thus becoming unintelligible to a wider audience. Also, instead of translating to “A great miracle happened there,” the message on the dreydl will be the more generic “Miraculous stuff happens.” In exchange, it is believed that Jews will be allowed to use Santa Claus and his vast merchandising resources for buying and delivering their gifts.
One of the sticking points holding up the agreement for at least three hundred years was the question of whether Jewish children could leave milk and cookies for Santa even after having eaten meat for dinner. A breakthrough came last year, when Oreos were finally declared to be Kosher. All sides appeared happy about this.
A spokesman for Christmas, Inc., declined to say whether a takeover of Kwanzaa might not be in the works as well. He merely pointed out that, were it not for the independent existence of Kwanzaa, the merger between Christmas and Hanukkah might indeed be seen as an unfair cornering of the holiday market. Fortunately for all concerned, he said, Kwanzaa will help to maintain the competitive balance between Christmas and Hanukkah.
He then closed the press conference by leading all present in a rousing rendition of “Oy Vey, All Ye Faithful .
Charles Henderson