WHEN SOMEONE SAYS "MERRY XMAS" TO A JEW

Xmas time for me is a perfect time to "come out" as a Jew. For me, when someone says to me "Merry Xmas!" I retort to them with an "I am Jewish." and they then have to rethink a different perspective and to have a good reason to say "Happy Chanukah" to me as that is the correct holiday greeting exclamation to say to me. I then reply with a "Thank you!"

In a household where there is even as little as one Jew who lives there, this makes the household a "Jewish Household."

I feel very proud on Xmas to be a Jew and to stand apart from the deliriousness and mania of "Merry Xmas." My day on today, on Xmas is much like any other day of the year, a day to produce, a day to work (unless it is a Saturday), a day to stand out and "come out" as a Jew, a day to think Jewish thoughts, a day to keep my faith, a day to pray to the Almighty one G-d, a day to keep the peace.

I had a Catholic grandmother who went all out to celebrate Xmas: she baked, cooked, wrapped gifts, went to church, watched the midnight mass in Rome on the TV set, etc. My father who was Jewish saw Xmas as the perfect time to keep the peace in our family, he used this occasion to show respect to my grandmother's beliefs and not once tried to change them. My Grandmother was proud as pudding to have a Jewish son-in-law knowing full well that he was Chosen, unlike any other person who was a Christian in our family, and he gave her respect and not once tried to interfere with her beliefs. She in turn, gave him respect and never attempted a Christian conversion attack to change my Dad's religion. My Dad stayed Jewish all his life and was buried as a Jew, never faltering from his beliefs in a one G-d, an Almighty G-d, an Elohim.

In our family, we the Jews are uplifted and respected more than anyone else in the family and are given the throne of honor as the Christians believe it is the Jews who are Chosen by G-d to do the 613 Mitzvoth here on Earth to accomplish the peace in the world and it is we who have the innate born ability to do this goodness. It is in our genetics and our DNA well developed from our ancestry. It is we who using an interfaith family unit as our practice grounds where we can do the most good, starting inside a family and spreading our righteousness from this inside to all on the outside as well.

"Merry Xmas!" and "Happy Chanukah!" exist together and one does not cancel out the other.