This was the first Christmas that LTJ and I spent together and I have to say, for someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, LTJ sure had some concerns about the lack of Christmas spirit in our house.
Christmas weekend LTJ complained to me that “it doesn’t really feel like Christmas.” We didn’t have any decorations out, because all of mine are for a Christmas tree which he is pretty opposed to. I was beginning to feel there was a double standard going on.
The next comment was that he wanted it to smell like Christmas in the house and wouldn’t it be great if we had some Christmas cookies. I made some yummy sugar cookies which helped fill the house with the holiday scents.
He also wanted Christmas music going. Now this was something that really blew me away, because so many Christmas songs have a direct religious tie to Christianity and as a Jew I wouldn’t think LTJ would want to listen to someone ringing the praises of the birth of Jesus. Of course, he believes Jesus was born and was a great leader, just not that he was the son of God. I think it’s a minor point of difference, but one that seems to have caused so much hoopla and conflict around the world.
LTJ found a special channel on TV that was just a burning log with Christmas music on. He was especially impressed by the fact that occasionally you would see a hand reach in and add a log or poke the fire. For the entire weekend, every time I switched the channel and came back into the living room, this log channel was back on again. LTJ was really psyched when he found a high-def version of the log, because what’s better than a burning yule log in HD? And I swear, the crystal clarity of the burning embers and flames really made it feel like there was a fireplace in our living room…
A persistent issue over the weekend was that I hadn’t wrapped his presents yet. I don’t know why it was of such concern to him as of course I was going to wrap them. But he was really concerned that I wouldn’t wrap them in time and he really wanted to open his presents. To be fair, I was dilly dallying on this, but there was a lot going on with our new puppy Bogart.
This hyper-concern over the holiday spirit and Christmas was all rather comical to me since he seemed to care more about celebrating Christmas than I did! Growing up LTJ and his family would go to their neighbors on Christmas eve and it was always filled with the scents, sights, and sounds of the holidays… I guess that’s where the holiday spirit got engrained into his psyche.
So while he doesn’t want us to get a Christmas tree, for all intents and purposes he is celebrating Christmas in every other way than the religious aspect. And really I don’t think a tree has any religious ties, so maybe next year I can convince him to get one and then it really will feel like Christmas in our house.
