Posts Tagged Under holidays
The True Meaning of Easter
I celebrated Easter long before I married a nice Catholic girl, which is why I labored so hard this year, as the sole and Jewish parent, to offer Miguel and Maya something substantive about the holiday.
My parents took me to Filley Pond in Bloomfield, CT, where I grew up, for the annual Easter egg hunt. Colored eggs, chocolate shaped bunnies, jelly beans, Easter bunnies in costume–all very cute and safe in a homogenized way for children of any and all religious backgrounds. But not what Easter is truly about, I think, any more than Christmas is just presents galore and a jolly fat man in a red suit.
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Santa: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
When did you stop believing in Santa Claus? Do you remember the exact moment, an event that happened to change your belief, or was it more of a gradual realization? As the holidays approach, I wonder if this is the year my eight-year-old learns the truth about Santa. Will he discover the inevitable or can we keep the magic going for one more year?
Last year was a close call. We always spend Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend transforming our house into a Christmas wonderland. Candles, garlands and figurines grace our mantle, and ornaments we have collected for the last 10 years fill the tree. Continue… »
By Paula ChapmanNot The Kind of Big Ticket Items You Want to Buy During the Holidays
Before you know it the holidays will be here. That doesn’t mean buying toys for our kids. This tells us it’s nearly time to buy new appliances for our house. They love to stop working at just about the same time that the holidays are breaking our bank accounts.
Instead of Toys R Us I’m scurrying to Best Buy or Sears to replace some expensive but can’t-live-without-it item, like the dishwasher that just fell apart all over my kitchen floor.
Last year, it was the central heat and air conditioning unit that whirred and buzzed for a few days before shutting down altogether right before Christmas. Temperatures in Sacramento where I live were dipping into the 30s and 40s at night and my kids complained they could see their breath. A contractor spent two days on the roof fiddling with the unit before he could determine how to fix it, which he managed to do the day before my mother arrived from Connecticut and I hosted 13 people for dinner.
By Laura-Lynne PowellLosing My Religion, Then Searching, Hoping to Find It
I half expected that having kids would make me lose my mind from time to time, but I never dreamed that it would make me lose my faith. Well, not quite lose yet, but definitely shake it to its inner core.
It started when my oldest son was old enough to understand Christmas. When I began telling him the Nativity story, it felt strange. I found it uncomfortably similar to brain washing. Here was this trusting little mind, willing to believe everything I told him and there I was talking about angels speaking to shepherds.
A “cradle Catholic,” I had stopped going to church regularly in my twenties but always had a strong belief in God. I certainly didn’t hesitate to call on Him in tough circumstances. When my atheist husband and I got married, I absolutely wanted a Catholic ceremony. It was important to me to have God bless our relationship. Ditto with baptism for my two boys. I instituted a nightly prayer with my sons, giving thanks for the day and running through a litany of “God Bless Mommy, God Bless Daddy” and various family members.
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