There is no set way to celebrate the December holidays anymore. I’m not an advocate of “mixing everything up.” I’m just saying a lot of us are mixing it up through mixed-faith marriage, conversion, or inventive experiment.

Last Christmas eve, I stepped out of church and noticed six Jewish friends standing there on the steps, laughing, since we’d all been at the large service together without realizing it. “I love Christmas music,” said one chum from my children’s synagogue. “I come here every year,” said another observant Jew. True, I live in New York City where liberal folks in mixed marriages seem to virtually dominate the landscape. I know it’s not like this everywhere.

Whatever your belief or practice, you can read more about how there is no “normal,” set way to relish the December holidays in Elizabeth Lesser’s wonderful piece about accepting your own year-end “style” by clicking here. Also, Holly Lebowitz Rossi is writing a month-long blog called “The December Dilemma” in which she describes all the ways the faithful clash and coincide at this religiously potent time of year.