MamAnomolie

During this holiday season, I'm just realizing how appropriately I have named my blog. The anomalies seem to abound this time of year.

I come from a Jewish family and my husband from a Christian one. Our personal views are very similar, but people always ask about what we do for the holidays. It actually works out very well. We go to my parents for Thanksgiving/Chanukah and to his parents for Christmas. Everyone is happy. Oh, and let me clarify that Thanksgiving/Chanukah thing. Religiously, Chanukah is not one of the more important holidays, so it has become a tradition in my family to celebrate it while everyone is home for Thanksgiving. That way my mother can claim two holidays in one, further ensuring that we will always go there for Thanksgiving.


Not only do Jonathan and I come from different religious backgrounds, but his family is from the rural south while mine is from the urban north. Our wedding was somewhat of a culture collision, and it was great. At one point my cousin asked Jonathan's dad if sparklers were a southern tradition. He replied that he had thought it must be a Jewish thing. But let's get back to the holiday anomalies!

The day after Thanksgiving, we always have a Jewish deli-style lunch. While Jonathan cannot wait to dig in to the lox, whitefish salad and egg salad, I won't go near the stuff.

Jonathan gave my mother truck antlers as a Chanukah gift this year. I'm not sure truck antlers have ever been given for Chanukah. The same can be said for the hitch hauler that is currently wrapped in Chanukah paper downstairs for Jonathan. And the Redneck Dictionary he gave my parents a few years ago.

I like to shoot mistletoe out of trees. I'm quite sure I'm the first person in my family to ever do that. I'm not too bad at it, either!

Anyway, my point is that I enjoy the irony and celebrate the diversity that our families bring. So, from our crazy family to yours, Happy Chanukah!