The Columnist Manifesto

My parents, though not particularly religious, were resolute that their children should not drift into Christianity, and so in my boyhood we celebrated Chanukkah with an 8-night present-exchanging vengeance. I carried this bit of religio-cultural upbringing into adulthood, and for many years I refused to have a Christmas tree under my roof.


But I softened on that. How can you be "principled" about refusing a Christmas tree given all the contradictions inherent in the Yuletide celebration? To name just a few:

1) Christmas is a widely acknowledged opportunity for a secular seasonal retail sales boom.
2) Christmas is an official holiday in a nation that is supposedly based on separation of church and state.
3) Some of the most festive Christmas traditions -- including, especially, the tree -- have pagan origins.
4) Gift-exchanging is not an organic Chanukkah tradition, but rather a purposeful add-on to offset the allure of Christmas gift-exchanging.

Early in our relationship, B called me in tears from her father's house on Christmas day. It was her family's first Christmas together after her mother died, and her dad, in his gruff way of grieving, had jettisoned many of their key traditions that year -- even to the point of buying a fake Christmas tree.

B flew home later that day, and I met her at the airport, and brought her back to my place. She didn't notice the telltale pine needles on the back seat of my car. I had bought a real tree to perk her up, stuck it in my living room, and -- lacking any "real" Christmas ornaments -- decked it out with bits of gift wrap I had around the house. The ornament pictured above was at the top of the tree. That's how the tree thing caught on in my house.

I've really come to enjoy having the decked out tree in the living room, with wrapped presents sprouting underneath like mushrooms. So there it is -- my personal addition to the contradictions of Christmas time.