“Mommy, can we put up Christmas decorations in the house?”
And thus began yet another December conversation. Christmas decorations are out of the question for us, as we don’t celebrate Christmas in our home. That particular line in the sand is quite clear in my mind, but that’s pretty much where the clarity ends.
My family background is a mix of secular Jews, Oklahoma Christians, and skeptical Italians. I was raised hanging pickle ornaments on Christmas trees with my mother and siblings and singing holiday carols at my Jewish grandmother’s parties.
The relics of my family history reflect this messy mix: I have a mezuzah necklace that my grandmother gave me, a wooden icon with the Virgin Mary on it that my great-grandmother brought with her from Italy, and an old Johnny Cash-style family bible with the Words of Jesus in Red and generations of birthdays carefully inscribed on the inside cover that belonged to yet another great-grandmother. I have a wooden cross (or, as my daughters call it, a fancy plus-sign) covered with small metal Milagros, religious folk charms that are quite popular in Mexico and New Mexico—two places that played significant roles in my childhood.
So, what do I do with all of them now?
You can read the rest of this post over at Kveller.com.
