Well said, Roger.
I also found this editorial in the Boston Globe --
A Jew Says "Merry Christmas" .
Rivka, I checked up that Jew FAQ you linked to -- that was really very interesting, so thanks for posting.
(And for the record, I had heard about Purim. Didn't really remember what it was, but I'd definitely heard of it.) But that guy who says he gets hassled for not celebrating Christmas sounds to me like he lives in a tough neighborhood -- we've lived in our current house 12 years, and I don't think we've put up any outside Christmas decorations ever. We usually travel for Christmas -- most years we don't even bother to put up a tree. And I've never had anyone question me about it.
I do sympathise about the pressure for the kids to have Santa, though. As a fairly religious person, at first I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of telling my kids about Santa. When they find out there's no such person, they might start wondering about those other invisible people I've talked about -- like God. But it would have been very very hard to keep Santa out of the picture; my husband's family is all secular, and give Santa presents every year, even when it was just us grown-ups
We've ended up compromising -- some presents are from grandparents or other relatives (this year, I took the kids shopping to pick out gifts for their dad), and those go under the tree whenever we get them. But then, some others are from Santa and don't show up til Christmas morning.
So from my perspective, Santa is secular, not religious. It was rather startling to hear that some districts are getting rid of Santa altogether. A creche is obviously religious, but Santa? That's a stretch.
PJ
