Better Watch Out!
Happy Winter Solstice Christmas Hanukkah Kwanzaa whatever ya got, everybody! At my house, before our daughter turned eight or nine years old, we celebrated what would be best described as secular Christmas. That is, we set up a lighted tree with presents, and had a morning gift-a-thon on the twenty-fifth; no crèche; no baby Jesus in sight. For us, it was as good an excuse as any to give her a whole bunch of toys, all at once, just for the sheer amusement of watching her go nuts with play. My wife, having grown up in a Jewish household, was only too happy to play Christmas. For my part, with a birthday the day before, the occasion has always been an inseparable part of my annual celebrations. And, having been raised non-sectarian, I never felt much compunction about cherry-picking the more hedonistic practices of the season for my own. Still, with the passing of each year, I came to feel that our peculiar little tradition was an unintentional mockery of a holiday othe