Recovering Christians. As we try to preserve traditions of our families and move toward new belief systems, we have expanded our traditions to include other cultures in addition to the one we were born into. Our tree has a wide variety of ornaments (I don't like boring ball ornaments).
We added a Festivus Pole last year (so funny if you are in the know) We don't have the airing of grievences or feats of strength parts, just the fun of the silly pole. If you don't know, google Festivus. It was from the Jerry Seinfeld show. Side note: I read Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell and she wrote at length about the Oneida Commune. They had a weekly airing of complaints meeting. I guess Seinfeld didn't make it up on his own!
We also have a menorah this year. We learn about the origins of Hanukkah in my class and the kids play dreidel and learn the meaning of the holiday. I have added the Dreidel Song to our holiday song books. Wish I knew more.
We could do Santa Lucia of Sweden, where the eldest daughter serves the family rolls with a advent wreath on her head with lit candles. But I think having G wear a crown of flaming candles would end in the loss of life and our home. So we will choose life.
This year, our Japanese intern moved to her next house right after Thanksgiving, so we put up our stuff early so she could experience it. It is so much fun to share traditions with guests.
Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Christmas, Happy New Year!
2 comments:
I LOVE IT! What a beautiful thing you are doing to learn about other celebrations and share all that knowledge with others! Haleigh recently had a dental assistant tell her that Kwanzaa was a "bad holiday" and I was so mad! Have a beautiful, warm and happy holiday!!!
One year, we did winter solstice cards, instead of "holiday" cards. Another year we did new yesr's cards. It's awesome to shake stuff up! And yes, for us it's really about preserving the cultures of the Irish/Czech Jew ancestors, and not so much about the religiosity of the holidays.
Thanks for poppin' in at The Siegel Files!
Joyeaux Festivus! LOL
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