Relationships & Family

Blended Family Traditions

batch — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:05:09 -0500

This month, some families are observing not one but two special celebrations: Passover and Easter.

Holiday Help

admin — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:05:00 -0600

Q: My brother's bringing his Jewish fiancée to my Christmas party. Another couple is Buddhist. Friends from our church are coming. Can I honor my traditions without dissing anyone else's?

Simple Faith

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:26:27 -0500

Even though we're Presbyterian, not Jewish, I loved Temple Emanuel Preschool. More important, so did my three-year-old, Thomas.

Ever since his very first day when his teacher, Miss Karen, welcomed him with a big hug and had him cut shapes out of Play-Doh, Thomas couldn't wait to go to school.

Custom Made

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:54:00 -0500

The holidays are full of traditions—about what we do, eat, say, pray, smell, wear, sing—handed down from years, even centuries ago. Some families go to church, others go caroling; some open gifts Christmas Eve, others Christmas Day; some use fresh cranberries, others use canned. As children, we adopted our parents' customs. But our adult lives sometimes require new rituals. You might need to adapt for a spouse who comes from a different faith or ethnic background, a new child, divorce or remarriage. Try these ideas for making new traditions rich in both meaning and joy.

Sunday the Rabbi Came to Dinner

admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:33:21 -0600

My husband, Harry, is Jewish. I'm Catholic. One of the promises we made to each other when we got married was that we would share our faiths. Maybe that's why I made a rather impulsive invitation Friday night at temple.

It was just a few months after our wedding. Our first big event as husband and wife was coming up. Easter dinner for friends at our house. I had the table decorations and menu all planned. I wanted everything to be perfect. Most of all I wanted Harry to really feel a part of the celebration.

Peace Process

admin — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 05:35:00 -0600

The day I met the women of the Faith Club, I sat in my kitchen and read the newspaper over breakfast. The headlines were sadly familiar. Fifteen bystanders killed in Iraq. Attacks and counterattacks in Palestine. The one-year anniversary of subway bombings in London.

A Festive Touch

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 09:34:00 -0600

Looking to deck your halls this season? Check out these winter decorations and the festive traditions behind them. (Bet you didn't know about some of them!)

1. Holly
First used to adorn doors and windows because its sharp edges were believed to keep evil from entering. In Celtic mythology, holly trees are linked to the winter solstice.

2. Urn of fate
At holiday gatherings in Spain, each person's name is written on a slip of paper. The papers are drawn from a bowl in pairs. Those matched are expected to be close in the New Year.

A Deeper Healing

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:55:06 -0500

My husband, Jerry, and I drove home in silence from the hospital that evening in April 1997. Not the comfortable silence of a couple married more than 40 years, the kind of easygoing companionship that needed no words. No, the silence that loomed between us was heavy with years of words unspoken and with a new word, one we couldn't ignore: cancer. It still rang in my ears from when Jerry had told me, "It's pancreatic cancer. The doctor said I have three months."

The Case for Christmas

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:41:09 -0500

When people learn that I am a writer with a penchant for the facts, they tend to ask a lot of questions. This time of year especially. Was there really a census taken in Galilee at the time of Christ's birth? Was there really a King Herod, and would he really have tried to do something as terrible as kill all the children under the age of two in Bethlehem? How do we know? What kind of evidence is there that an unusually bright star burned in the night sky?