Merry Christmas! - I'm Jewish.

Growing up as a Jew in an extremely materialistic country around "The Holidays" has been an eye-opening experience. During this time of year, many people put themselves in this allusion that Christmas is a world-wide holiday that is everyone's favorite day of the year.I no longer get offended when sales associates tell me to have a merry Christmas as I check out, or when the grocery store bagger asks what my plans are for Christmas. It's kind of weird - most of the country is completely unaware that not everyone celebrates the "greatest time of year."

If I reply that I do not celebrate, the person usually gets either confused, uncomfortable, or feels sorry for me. It's usually followed with a, "well hannukah is soon, right?! 8 days of presents wow!"

Quick anecdote:

Hannukah is NOT a holiday about giving gifts. It only has become so in America because it falls around Christmas time and parents feel bad for their children. It's a holiday celebrating the end of a war in our history and a biblical miracle that happened where a candle burned for 8 days, 8 nights ... thus why we light the candles. Nothing to do with gifts whatsoever. Considering there are, in fact, people who don't celebrate Christmas in the country, if you are one who does I truly find it to be your duty to educate yourself a little.

I am thankful that my parents did not spoil me. I know many Jewish people who get Hannukah bushes and mass amounts of gifts each of the eight nights of hanukah. They are not me. It is not my right to judge their traditions, I just find it to be a little demeaning to what Hannukah is truly about. I did not get a gift every night growing up, and I did not get the latest toys and uggs and flashy jewelry. I would get one decent sized gift, and then maybe some socks or an interesting book.

I can't remember the last time I was upset that I was not getting gifts like my friends did on Christmas... it never bothered me too much. So that's why I find it quite funny when people feel sorry for me that I'm Jewish. I have my own religion and own holidays to celebrate. Don't worry, I'm ok.

Working in retail brings me such distaste. While it may not be my place to say, to be honest I don't think Christmas is what it's meant to be anymore. I havnt even been able to make it to work on time all week because of the insane amounts of traffic by the mall. People are spending scary amounts of money... for what? Gifts aren't buying you any love. Imagine what we could be doing with all the money people spend on frivolous stocking stuffers. How many homeless people could we feed? Just something to think about.

People get desperate. There has been a huge amount of theft at the store I work at because people want to buy their family things to make them happy. This is beyond distasteful and goes against the point of the "holiday season."

I'm not the grinch. I love Christmas music, the idea of making the ones you love happy with a gift, and the idea of getting together with family before the new year begins. I just wish we were not so driven by material items and it could truly be a time about family and friends.

As far as what I do on Christmas? If you havn't met a Jew already you may not know that the only places open on Christmas are Chinese restaurants and the movies. So thus a tradition. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day all the Chinese restaurants in town are PACKED with Jews. It's a cute little tradition and I love it. Summed up perfectly, I always have to watch this video each year.

Merry Christmas.