Christmas

Call me scrooge, but Christmas has always been one of my least favorite times of the year. Not one of those festive type people in general, but Christmas for me as a kid was always stressful and confusing. Having parents go through a very, difficult divorce when you are 10 causing you to split time with different sides of the family and observing both Christmas and Hannukah are a few of the main reasons I feel the way I do. Whatever the case, I always dreaded Christmas. I didn't even like missing school. That speaks volumes about about my nerdiness more than anything else, doesn't it? Jeez. Then, I fully embraced being Jewish as an adult, and I didn't want to celebrate Christmas anymore. It no longer felt right to me. However, this is a tricky situation to maneuver when you are in a mixed religion family. We are just one of many families that navigate this every year, however, I still feel somewhat uncomfortable figuring out the right balance. And, having a child now causes me to look at things differently as well. Abby will definitely be raised Jewish, but I want to replace my negative memories of the holidays with positive ones. And, the only way to do that is to spend time with my family that I love even if Christmas doesn't have the same meaning for me as it does for my Christian family members. I can respect their religion without embracing it, and that is what I will continue to do and teach Abby to do as she gets older.

We planned to travel to West Texas for Christmas this year, and my mom, Abby, Uncle Bob, and I left for the airport around 9 AM on Christmas Eve day. We never made it to our destination. Major snow and wind shut down the airport for a time and although we kept getting word that our flight would indeed leave, the closest we ever made it to Lubbock was boarding the plane. 7 hours later, three very irritable adults and one amazingly happy toddler turned around and headed back home as our flight was finally cancelled at about 5:30 PM with no available flights the following day either on any airline. It seems the snow and wind kept planes grounded in Lubbock, and we could never get out of Dallas. Abby didn't cry at all the entire stay in the Dallas airport even with only a 30 minute power nap. She never ceases to amaze me.

Christmas 2009


She was incredible. She likes to be "on the go" so we spent a good chunk of time walking around and potty training in the public bathrooms. I know. You are jealous. My daughter actually prefers public bathrooms (ick). I could have her potty trained in a jiffy if we just moved into the airport for a weekend, I believe.

So, we spent Christmas in Dallas and it was extremely low key. We were so disappointed not to see the rest of our family. I think I was looking forward to this Christmas the most because my nieces had a lot of wonderful things planned, and Abby is at such a cute stage and would have loved playing with her cousins. I felt really bad for my uncle who traveled the day before from North Carolina and does celebrate Christmas. He got stuck in Dallas with his Jewish relatives who had no tree, decorations or anything "Christmasy" at all. What a far cry from my brother and sister-in-law's home which is always very festive and beautifully decorated for the holidays. The silver lining was that we got to spend more time with my uncle than we normally would have. We have already planned another trip in a few weeks to see everyone in Lubbock. Let's hope the weather cooperates!