From: M18611@MBVM.Mitre.Org (Kathy Wilk)
Subject: Re: Celebrating Xmas and Hannakuh
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA 01730
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 16:02:51 GMT

  I haven't been following the Christmas/Hannukah discussion but I have been
thinking a lot about Christmas and Hannukah this year because we had planned
a Christmas open house on the Sunday before Christmas which happens to also be
Channukah.
  Last year, we played Channukah music at our party because there are some
neighbors who have  interfaith marriages and we weren't sure what their
approaches to the holiday are going to be with their children.  At our
Christmas open house, each child gets a VERY small gift.  I didn't want to
leave out their kids - and there weren't any problems with their kids accepting
the gifts.
  This year, the School Superintendent in our town has decided there will be no
school Christmas trees - no religion dominating others.  This didn't bother me
but someone wrote in a letter to the town paper that it seems to be not so
much a decision for freedom of religion as for freedom FROM religion.  It
bothers me that there are children in my town who are needy and whether they
receive charity or not, the school celebration of Christmas may be the nicest
part of their holiday.  I consider this Superintendent to be a dud, out of
touch with the problems of our town, especially the problems coming from
the lower socio-economic stratum.
  I can live with the Superintendent's decision but this is what I am
left to think about:
  My Jewish neighbors don't make a big deal out of Channuah (and they don't
have to..) and we will not be invited to partake in Channukah feasting or
dreidel playing or latke tasting or whatever.  They won't have Channukah
open houses.   I would like my kids to be exposed to the holiday traditions
of other religions but the most that will happen is some attempt at an
interfaith celebration at their daycare.  And I am really happy that my kids'
daycare is going to have a holiday celebration for EVERYONE.
  If it weren't for the daycare interfaith celebration, my kids would not be
learning about how to play with a dreidel.  It seems that Jews don't make a
big celebration out of Channukah so let's not celebrate Christmas in a big
way?  Yes, we could have a modest celebration that is family only - why, be-
cause Channukah is celebrated that way?  It doesn't make sense to me that
Christmas, which takes place during the dullest, coldest season of the year,
should be downplayed for such a reason.  Easter is different in the way it
is celebrated from Passover but does that matter when Easter baskets go on
sale?
  This is one time during the year when we open our house to the entire
neighborhood.  Absolutely everyone is invited, youngest and the oldest, and
if you drink alcoholic eggnog to excess, you can still walk home.  If you don't
drink alcohol, you can drink mulled cider.  There is dinner that my husband and
I really enjoy preparing (last year, about 50 people showed up).
  No one else has yet had a party for the entire neighborhood (we don't even
get invited to anyone's house for dinner), even in the summer, even a pot luck
kind of thing.  One motto associated with Christmas is 'Peace on earth, good
will toward men' - I can't imagine anyone disagreeing with those sentiments.
If the theme of our celebration was religious, I could see the point to argue.
  As far as the commericalism goes - we are still trying to adopt a policy that
limits the number of gifts in our own family.  I suggested 7 presents per child
as the maximum and we have done that the past two years.  The real test will be
when my daughter reaches the first 'gotta have' year, next year when she is 4.
  Everyone I know who has had an annual party, for Christmas, Fourth of July,
or New Years Eve, or whenever, has not been deluged by invitations in return.
I don't know whether it is general lack of manners or whether throwing an
annual party puts you in a special category.  We do it for the good cheer.
 
                        K. Wilk
                        M18611@MBVM.MITRE.ORG
 
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