A Plea

I just hit up the Trader Joe's and was asked if I was "ready for Santa Claus too?"  I said, "Actually, I'm Jewish, so I don't celebrate Christmas."  Maybe I should have just gone along with it, but it's at this point in the season when many of us Jews just get tired of being wished a Merry Christmas.  It's almost non-stop, especially on that last day of school (mostly by parents, my kids actually know better).  And it's not like I live in the middle of Utah, where there are very few Jews.  I'm in the Peninsula where there are a fair number of Weingasts and Goldsteins.  Apparently, my clerk at TJ's hasn't come across too many as he seemed a bit stunned and awkwardly tried to fill the check out time with chatter.  He said, "So you really don't celebrate it at all?"  I said, "When you're Jewish, you usually don't.  Actually tonight is the first night of Chanukah, so I'm ready for that!"  Now, yes, I do go to my dad's house for Christmas and Christmas Eve to partake in food an festivities, but I don't really consider that I celebrate Christmas.  There are people in my family who do, and so I am with them on the holiday.  I guess the equivalent could be to Gentiles coming over for a Passover seder.  It's not that they celebrate the holiday, but they are sharing it.  So, I am probably preaching to the choir, but during this season, it's good to wish people just a Happy Holidays.  Most people probably celebrate something in between Thanksgiving and New Year's.  Or you could just wish people a Good Day...no offense there.