Most of you are super busy today with all the cooking and wrapping gifts and either getting over-the-top excited about or possibly psyching yourself up to deal with the time you’ll be spending with family members tonight and tomorrow. Maybe you’re doing things the same as last year; maybe you’re mixing it up. I know one thing for sure: Jim and I are doing exactly the same thing we always do for Christmas (I’ve reminded you here every single year for more than a decade): Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate, Happy Hanukkah to my fellow members of the Tribe, and Happy Tuesday night/Wednesday to everyone else! No…
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Tradition Indicates That I Write About This Tradition
If you celebrate Christmas, right about now you might be preparing for a special dinner with family, finishing up some last-minute shopping, wrapping, or assembling, baking those cookies to leave along with milk for Santa, or having fun doing some other festive activity. Here is my traditional wish that your holiday is everything you hoped it would be, and that you get to spend it with exactly whom you want. As for Jim and me, you already know what we’re doing tonight and tomorrow: Enjoy the holiday, whatever that means to you!
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This December, Be Kind.
With the calendar being flipped to December again (that always seems to happen this time of year!), I decided to revisit something I originally wrote in 2011, because I’m sure it will be useful again, especially with our current administration making it an issue. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or something else? I have written about this topic several times before, but alas, it’s that time of year once again, and I always get questions. Let me start out with my disclaimer: though I naturally think that my point of view makes complete sense, it is indeed MY point of view and I have great respect for other opinions, even if…
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A Totally Predictable Star Wars Christmas
Even though we’re with extended family in Knoxville, the Wells family will continue our Christmas tradition of going to see a movie followed by dinner prepared by Jim. (We’re having Green Curry Chicken, which is Thai and not Chinese, but still Asian. Close enough.) Our movie? The new “Star Wars” flick. FINALLY. (
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It’s Like Groundhog Day, But On Christmas.
Same thing, different year! The Wells family will continue our Christmas tradition of going to see a movie and dinner prepared by Jim. (We’re having Green Curry Chicken, which is Thai and not Chinese, but still Asian. Close enough.) Our movie? The new “Star Wars” flick. FINALLY. Thank YOU, internet, for not posting any spoilers. This has to be a new record because I totally expected to know what I was getting into more than a week ago. I can’t wait to see this movie, spoiler-free! Besides that? Well, you know: Merry Christmas to all of you who are celebrating!
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While You’re Doing That, We’ll Be Doing This.
Just wanted to take a moment to say “Merry Christmas!” to all of you who are celebrating. I hope you have exactly the kind of holiday you want and that it leaves you with a smile on your face. The Wells Family is doing our traditional Christmas Day activities: we’ll be in the movie theater for at least one (“Anchorman 2”) but maybe two (“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”) movies, and then Chinese food for dinner. Right after we do all of this other stuff: Merry Christmas (or Happy Humpday) to all of you!
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Eating Easter Candy Does Not Equal Celebrating Easter
I’ve had some odd encounters lately, and I thought I’d write a quick post about why that’s been happening as a public service announcement of sorts. Here’s what’s up: 1.My family is Jewish AND 2. We have been seen enjoying Easter-exclusive candies like Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs, Cadbury Cream Eggs (the caramel ones, too), Hershey Eggs, and several others. For years, actually. There seems to be a belief among some out there in society that it’s weird for Jews to eat Easter candy because Jews aren’t supposed to celebrate Easter. We aren’t celebrating Easter. The truth is, we just like the candy. I understand that it was totally natural for…
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I’m Cutting Back On This Particular Tradition.
Passover begins tomorrow evening, and for us that means our traditional seder with friends. I just did the math and figured out that we’ve been sharing the first evening of Passover at this particular house for sixteen years with various combinations of families from our temple Havurah, which was formed for the purpose of spending many of the Jewish holidays together. (Our group of six families was formed when D was in preschool!) There have only been a few Passovers–the earliest ones–on which every family was present at the seder (25 people!), and over the past few years as the kids have grown up and some have taken Spring Break…
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I Laugh Because She Thinks *I* Did *HER* A Favor.
Last night I was online (surprise, surprise) and happened to check my Tweetdeck to see what all of my Twitter friends were up to. I noticed this, from my friend Jen: I decided to respond with a sincere offer: As usual, Jen’s response to my response was devoid of any emotion whatsoever: Actually, I was getting ready to go out to dinner with Jim and the boys, but I told Jen I was very serious about the offer to help and I would be happy to stop by her house for a while after my TDM class this morning. We had a series of Direct Messages which included her asking…
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Jingle All The Way
Though I was born Jewish, I have celebrated Christmas in addition to Hanukkah at different times in my life. I should mention that by the words “celebrating Christmas”, I mean “celebrating the secular parts of the holiday”. When we were kids, my sister and I got stockings every year*. We would’ve had a Christmas tree too, had our mom been able to talk our dad into it, but he wouldn’t even go for a Hanukkah bush** and so we had to settle for Aunt Jemima. Our uncle married our aunt (duh), who was not Jewish (still isn’t), so we used to make the trek to their house for the Christmas…
