A few weeks ago I went shopping with my 10 year old daughter. We were walking through the store and she was pointing out all kinds of things she’d like to have. This was very unusual behaviour since our family has a pretty well understood shopping etiquette. We can admire things in the store without necessarily wishing to have them. If there is something special the kids would like to have then we negotiate chores and extra duties. That’s not what she was doing. She was pointing at things and saying she’d like to have them – pajamas, toys, candy, – all kinds of things.

It struck me that her behaviour was much more informed by the Christmas media than by our family values so I decided to play it out. “I have a great idea!” I said, “I’ll get you that for Christmas!” She immediately stopped walking, was quiet, then looked at me and said: “When is it ever going to be our Christmas?” I just smiled at which point she said, “That’s not funny.”

For the last few weeks, every time an extraordinary request is made within the family we all simply say, ‘I’ll get you that for Christmas’, or ‘sounds good for Christmas Eve.’

Within a Jewish household, it’s added a whole new meaning to Christmas.

Happy Holidays everyone!