In my previous post, I wrote about how I explain the holidays to my Jewish kids who were born in Canada, but the more challenging (and funny) part is actually celebrating them.
Here's how we do the holidays, both Jewish and non-Jewish, Zamir style:
Hannuchristmas
If you’re feeling the stress and chaos that comes with the joys of the holiday season, just think of me planning Hannuka but also accomodating for Christmas. Jesus.
Thankfully, the two usually either arrive in proximity to each other on the calendar or even overlap! Lucky me.
Besides their calendar proximity, the two have another thing in common, and it is the giving of gifts to children. So we set up and decorate an alternative Christmas tree, aka Hannukah tree, we light a menorah, eat jelly donuts, and buy gifts for the kids, and they couldn't be happier. At the same time, we also go to Christmas markets (pre-pandemic) and enjoy seeing all the decorated houses around the city.
Do we feel less Jewish? no. Do we make the most of the festivities? hell yes.
Dressing up X2 What about Purim and Halloween? The tweensiest holidays of all time. We get to dress up twice and eat candy twice. We encourage our kids to go green and use the same costume, and luckily here in the almost-North-Pole, the winter is long enough to include both Halloween and Purim, so one warm costume is all they need. The Jewish mind knows no bounds.
We go Trick or Treating on Halloween, and attend at least one Purim party on Purim.
Fun all around us.
Thanksgiving is Friendsgiving! Although it is not a Christian holiday but a civic one, we don't do Turkey and pumpkin pies. Instead, we converted it to "a day in which we say thank you for all the things that we have in life, without making too much of a celebration out of it". We decorate pumpkins because we can always use new art and craft ideas, and we have a nice festive dinner with friends and call it "Friendsgiving".
Creative much? Rosh HaShanah and New Year's Hebrew for “head of the year,” Rosh Hashanah is a chance not just to celebrate and look ahead, but also to consider the past. Sounds Familiar? New Year's resolution is literally the same thing. So now I have to plan ahead twice: once in the Fall and once during Winter.
Or, if you look at it from a different angle, I can use this as an opportunity to fix what I've done and to press the restart button twice a year.
*Evil laugh*.
What about the kids though?
They enjoy a big Rosh Hashanah dinner and Apple picking around that time (Good timing, Harvest!), and hmmmm... nothing for New Year's Eve because they go to bed at 8pm and this holiday is for adults only.
Passover / Easter Another set of holidays that have a lot in common: They share themes of liberation and triumph and they both involve buying eggs. And like Hannukah and Christmas, they sometimes overlap. We obviously celebrate Passover by the book, but since Easter is not 'ours', we chose the one thing that the kids relate to the most and learn about at school:
Bunnies!
Who doesn't like bunnies? seriously. Furry little animals who like to run around, and if you behave, might also leave a present for you. We use them as an educational tool and an excuse to incentivize our kids to be at their best behavior, and they use it as an excuse to eat more chocolate eggs.
A win-win situation.
Enjoying the best of both worlds can be exhausting at times, but we're lucky to be able to have so many reasons to be jolly while keeping our traditions.
And the best part? holidays playlists.
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