General Discussion

My sister and I used to talk about things we observed and what we overheard from adults.

Added to the family mix of immigrants on one side and Native Americans on the other side, my NA and British grandmother (descended from colonial Puritans on the British side) died when I was a toddler. When my grandfather started dating again, he had a long term relationship with a Jewish woman who was raised in a Conservative Jewish sect but became secular as an adult. She loved the Jewish culture and history, but did not practice the religion. She told us a lot about it, though. She used to bring us Hannukah gelt for presents when we all got together at the farm for Christmas and then told us the story of Hannukah, the Festival of Lights. Our Hannukah gelt were little chocolate "coins" wrapped in gold foil. When my cousins learned that Hannukah is celebrated for 8 days, they wanted Christmas gifts for 8 days. Greedy little kids. LOL.

It was a culturally varied childhood but to me, it was just normal because it's what we grew up with.