A Funny Christmas Story From Childhood

Image by Simon Howden at FreeDigitalImages.net

Something made me share this story with a friend a few weeks ago, and I thought I'd share it here as well.

When I was young -- around first, second, and third grade -- my aunt and uncle and cousins would have a huge Christmas party at their house one Saturday in early or mid December.

We lived ... let's see, I'm just guessing an hour or two drive away, at most, and we would arrive mid-morning and stay til it was dark, then drive back home. (Their house always still seemed full of people when we left, which makes me wonder how long these parties went on!)

My relatives were obviously big party people (they still are), and I remember these get-togethers being an event where every room was filled with people. They were other relatives -- some who I barely even know who they were -- plus their neighbors, co-workers, friends, you name it.

Anyway, not surprisingly, we would exchange gifts at these yearly get-togethers. I remember, among other things, getting a game called Beat the 8 Ball, which I owned and used for many years after.

Image Courtesy of Amazon

I also remember getting a bracelet that had white beads. Each bead had a letter, and it spelled out my name -- a little bit like this, although not quite:

Picture this bracelet, but a version for a seen year old girl

The next week at Show and Tell at school -- remember, I was in about second grade -- I got up in the front of the classroom and showed them my bracelet. "I got this from my aunt for Christmas," I said.

My memory -- which may or may not be completely accurate -- was that there was almost a collective gasp from my classmates, they were so floored.

How could she have a Christmas gift? Christmas isn't for almost two weeks! How is this possible?

And then, as I went back to my seat, I heard kids murmuring to each other, "Is she Jewish? She must be Jewish!"

"Jenny, are you Jewish?" a few kids boldly approached me and asked after Show and Tell was over.

I told them no, I wasn't.

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There are two things I find amusing about this story:

1) That I actually remember it at all;

2) The idea that getting a Christmas present before December 25 must mean you're some other religion -- and that Jews, in fact, celebrate Christmas too, just on a different day than everybody else.

Do you have a funny story about Christmas from when you were a kid? Tell me about it in the comments!