Throughout my life I have grown up in a household that celebrates holidays for two major religions. My mother is Jewish and my father is Catholic, and as you can imagine it's a pretty odd situation to describe to people.

Growing up, neither of my parents forced their religion upon my brother or I because they wanted us to find the religion that fit what we believed. Which I appreciate immensely. Especially now that I'm older, I'm confident in what I believe because I sought out religion and found what feels right to me, I never had anything thrusted upon me when I may not have agreed with it. But we always celebrated the major holidays of both religions from a tradition standpoint, although my parents always told us the history for each holiday so we knew what we were celebrating.

I remember being in elementary school and I was the only kid who was Jewish. So every year, my mom got permission to light a menorah and taught my class about Chanukah. It's something I always looked forward to when I was younger.

Looking around at society, it saddens me that there isn't an equal representation of all the different holidays that are celebrated during this time. I can go into one store and find a small Chanukah section but if I go to another location of the same store that section may not be there. Frankly, I think that's ridiculous.

I always thought it was the coolest thing. It seemed like every couple of months there was another holiday we got to celebrate, and that meant quality family time and getting to cook with my mom. It never occurred to me how rare it was for someone to grow up in a household like mine.

Being Jewish is a religion but also a heritage (like someone who is German can celebrate German holidays, how Americans celebrate the 4th of July, etc) since for so long the Jewish people didn't have a homeland to settle. Growing up, that was the easiest way to describe to people why I celebrated Chanukah and Christmas at the same time. Especially since I was so young and couldn't properly understand religion or what I believed in.

I love that I grew up this way. I think it gave me an interesting perspective on life and it makes me feel special, as lame as that may sound. I'm proud to be considered Jewish and Catholic, it feels right. Like I was always meant to balance both religions.

So from someone who celebrates numerous things this holiday season, I ask that you remember to be kind to others. Regardless of what they may believe or celebrate. It seems to me that there will always be people who disagree with the idea of saying "happy holidays", but to me it's simply being courteous of others.

So from my family to yours, Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays for everything in between.