Guest Post: The Bubbly Brittany

[Tzfat today! Try saying that 3 times fast. Did you know that Tzfat is Jewish mysticism's birthplace? Holla for Madonna! Or don't. After visiting around here, we're going down to the Negev Desert. I think I see a camel in my future... What you're about to read is from one of my favorite ladies. Seriously, major girl crush right here. Shh, don't tell Brent!]

Thank you so much to Ali for having me at The Way I See It! When she first mentioned guest posting, I had a bunch of different great ideas. Then, they all swiftly left my head. I thought for days about what to write, then remembered that Ali and I have something in common--our Jewish connection! In fact, she's in Israel right now! So I thought I'd draw on that, tell you a story, and engage you in a little story telling of your own.

Here we go!

As a little girl, the holidays were always a magical time for me. We celebrated two holidays in December (not to mention two birthdays--my dad's and younger sister's). With my mother being Catholic, we celebrated Christmas, and with my father being Jewish, we celebrated Hanukkah. A lot of people think Hanukkah is the Jewish Christmas, but this is actually not true. This historical occurrence just happens to fall at the same time that Christmas does.

Tradition has always been important to me and the few we had in our household were upheld year after year. Every December my dad would light the candles of the menorah, put on his yarmulke (pronounced "yah-mu-kuh"--it's the cap Jewish men sometimes wear), and read the nightly prayer from his prayer book. We usually did this for all eight nights, although sometimes a night would accidentally get skipped. Even though I never really knew what the words meant, I could recite the first few lines verbatim after hearing them so many times. My dad used to come to my classes in grade-school to teach my classmates about Hanukkah as well. I was always, and still am, so proud of my Jewish heritage. To this day, I tend to identify more with that religion than any other.

My mother, on the other hand, made Christmas a month long affair. Immediately after Thanksgiving, the Christmas boxes would come out in droves. It drove my father nuts. My brother, sister, and I each had several special ornaments. It was always observed that the owner of the ornament was to be the only one to place it on the tree. We'd decorate to Andy Williams, Amy Grant, and Mariah Carey singing in the background. And when we were feeling particularly crazy, we'd put on the "Jingle Cats" album our Aunt Stacy got for us. It's basically a bunch of cats meowing and purring all the popular Christmas carols. I would always imitate this one line really loudly to my brother and it never failed (still doesn't!) to make him bust up laughing.

Another fun tradition we did was cookie baking. We had this one book about gingerbread bears that my mom used to read to us when we were little. In the story, the children fell fast asleep after a long night of baking cookies. Then, in the middle of the night, the gingerbears would come alive and play all around the kitchen! So my mom, being the clever one she is, would put us to bed, snag a few Barbie shoes from my sister's and my room, and work her magic. The next morning we'd wake up to footprints in the flour, just like in the story! We were just sure that our gingerbears had come alive too--just like in our book.

Things are different now. My parents are divorced, my little sister is a mom, I'm a wife, and my brother and his girlfriend just moved in together. But after all these years, we still see to it that at least one tradition is kept alive. Just like when we were little, our stockings are always saved for last. We'll be scattered about the room, exhausted from a morning of tearing open presents, only to suddenly remember--STOCKINGS! It happens every year. And every year, I feel like I'm seven years old again.

What holiday traditions do you remember? Do you still celebrate them?

Be sure to come visit me at Notes From the Grove sometime! Happy Holidays!