Christmas Thoughts
The lyrics of the song start like this: 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."
But for me my Christmas journey has taken some turns and bends. Growing up in a conservative Jewish household, Christmas or the thought of it much less the utterance of the word would bring scorn and consternation. I'd ask my mother why we don't celebrate Christmas and she'd plainly say because we are Jewish and that's all you need to know. So my introduction to Christmas with all its lights, gifts and song was disfigured and marred. I grew up feeling separate from the rest of the world, isolated from friends and families that celebrated Christmas
I had become Christian in 2002 and I hadn't yet grasped the meaning of Christmas. I was still stuck in my learned Jewish ways or at least in the stagnant, stubborn ways of my mother.
It wasn't until just within the last two years that the meaning of Christmas would be made evident and I would be embrace the holiday for its meaning more than anything else. As my Christian walk took me closer and closer to God, to Jesus, I began to understand the meaning of Christmas.
It has taken me many, many years to understand that while I once ran screaming from Judaism because of how badly affected I was because of how tainted growing up in my specific Jewish household was, that I am still Jewish, that my Hebrew roots run deep and that I am learning to integrate and correlate, knit together my Christian and my Hebrew selves; that each are important parts of my life and being Christian with a Jewish upbringing brings a unique perspective to any conversation whether in or out of a church setting.
But back to Christmas.
This past Sunday I had occasion to drive through neighborhoods and look at houses decked out in the lights of the season. Many of these houses were literally large mansion like structures found on some of the wealthiest real estate in the country. The decorations ranged from classic and tasteful to gaudy and the ridiculous; most though were definitely eye-opening and very nicely done. In front of one house amid the Santa sleds pulled by reindeer, and multi-colored lights that wrapped around trees and the exterior of the house I found an inflatable dinosaur that wore the image of a Chanukah menorah on his shirt and at his feet was a Chanukah dreidel with the Hebrew letter "Hey" or H in English. So, in the midst of "jingle bells" with all the trimmings and trappings of Christmas came some special memories of what is truly near and dear to my heart.
Who would have thought? Certainly not me.
But for me my Christmas journey has taken some turns and bends. Growing up in a conservative Jewish household, Christmas or the thought of it much less the utterance of the word would bring scorn and consternation. I'd ask my mother why we don't celebrate Christmas and she'd plainly say because we are Jewish and that's all you need to know. So my introduction to Christmas with all its lights, gifts and song was disfigured and marred. I grew up feeling separate from the rest of the world, isolated from friends and families that celebrated Christmas
I had become Christian in 2002 and I hadn't yet grasped the meaning of Christmas. I was still stuck in my learned Jewish ways or at least in the stagnant, stubborn ways of my mother.
It wasn't until just within the last two years that the meaning of Christmas would be made evident and I would be embrace the holiday for its meaning more than anything else. As my Christian walk took me closer and closer to God, to Jesus, I began to understand the meaning of Christmas.
It has taken me many, many years to understand that while I once ran screaming from Judaism because of how badly affected I was because of how tainted growing up in my specific Jewish household was, that I am still Jewish, that my Hebrew roots run deep and that I am learning to integrate and correlate, knit together my Christian and my Hebrew selves; that each are important parts of my life and being Christian with a Jewish upbringing brings a unique perspective to any conversation whether in or out of a church setting.
But back to Christmas.
This past Sunday I had occasion to drive through neighborhoods and look at houses decked out in the lights of the season. Many of these houses were literally large mansion like structures found on some of the wealthiest real estate in the country. The decorations ranged from classic and tasteful to gaudy and the ridiculous; most though were definitely eye-opening and very nicely done. In front of one house amid the Santa sleds pulled by reindeer, and multi-colored lights that wrapped around trees and the exterior of the house I found an inflatable dinosaur that wore the image of a Chanukah menorah on his shirt and at his feet was a Chanukah dreidel with the Hebrew letter "Hey" or H in English. So, in the midst of "jingle bells" with all the trimmings and trappings of Christmas came some special memories of what is truly near and dear to my heart.
Who would have thought? Certainly not me.
