1. Which religion or faith do you belong to, if any?
As a kid, I was brought up in the Christian faith. Every time my parents moved they joined a different Protestant denomination. I have been Congregationalist (UCC), Methodist, American Baptist, and Presbyterian. When I came out and met my husband, I decided to convert to his faith, Judaism (Reform). I no longer celebrate Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter. At first, my family wasn’t too happy about it but either they have resigned themselves to it or have accepted it.
2. What is your opinion of Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays?
This is a manufactured/made up seasonal controversy contrived by conservative talk radio and FOX News. The whole point is to draw in listeners and viewers in order to sell more advertising. The phrase “Happy Holidays” is an attempt to be more inclusive to include non-Christians such as Jews.
I love holiday music especially Christmas music. There are not very many good Hanukkah songs but there are a ton of great Christmas songs, many of them written by Jews.
Some of the best Jewish written Christmas songs are: Silver Bells, Winter Wonderland, Santa Baby, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, A Holly Jolly Christmas, Let It Snow, (There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Run Rudolph Run, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, and White Christmas.
I like it when holiday music on the radio starts after Thanksgiving and goes through the end of the year.
4. When do you start decorating? Do you?
I no longer decorate. We travel instead and are not home.
5. White lights or multi colored?
I like both. It is nice to have a change once and a while. Alternate every year.
When I was in my 20’s and 30’s, I always had a string of colored lights hung around the ceiling of the living room or den. I would plug them in and turn them on when ever I wanted to create a cheery or festive mood. You could say it was my way of being gay while still closeted (I didn’t come out until I was 40).
6. Gift cards, cash or actually shopped-for presents?
I passionately dislike gift cards. I prefer cash or shopped-for presents. Gift Cards are poor and lazy choice of a gift and in many cases a waste of money. A number of surveys estimate that nearly 1 in 4 Americans don’t even use their gift cards. They also have a plethora of other problems: fees, bank charges, expiration dates, wasted balances, and bankrupt/out of business retailers. I would rather someone make a donation to a charity in my name than give me a gift card.
7. Christmas cards and or family update letters are...
…greatly appreciated, especially the older I get. In some cases, it is the only time in the year I hear from old friends and distant family members. Not everyone is on Facebook.
8. Snow is...
…over rated. I am glad I live in an area where I don’t have to deal with it. It was fun when I was a small kid but I would hate to deal with it as an adult.
9. Have you been a good little boy or girl this year?
As Mae West said, “When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better. ”
1. Food: my husband’s latkes for Hanukkah
2. Dessert: fancy Christmas cookies
3. Drink: spiked eggnog, Cosmopolitans, and Champagne
4. Holiday movie: all the new Oscar potential movies released during the holiday season.
5. Holiday music: The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (300 men!) holiday show.
6. Holiday tradition: Spending the holiday vacation at a gay men’s resort. Our favorite place is Pineapple Point Guesthouse and Resort in Fort Lauderdale. We also enjoyed our stay at Island House in Key West.
Link: http://youtu.be/IHVzwyG7_1k
1 comment:
Thanks for the link to the chorus. What a lot of fun that was!
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