{{vw}}

In further adventures of Annoying Officemate: he asked me what it feels like to be a Jew on Christmas. He also asked what my family's Chanukah traditions were, and seemed very disappointed that we didn't have anything other than the usual stuff.

He also asked what my family's Chanukah traditions were, and seemed very disappointed that we didn't have anything other than the usual stuff.

What did he expect you to do? Have some wacky tradition to impart?

Dude, it's Chanukah. Go read Wikipedia. Or a book.

Next time maybe you could tell him, "Well, up until last year we sacrificed Emus and the occasional Polar Bear who wandered by...but uncle Bob got us to all go reformed."

he asked me what it feels like to be a Jew on Christmas.

"Like being a Christian on Chanukah?".

I'm sorry you have to deal with asshole. Can't you murder ignore him?

Mornin'.

(Chanukah is next week! And one of my best friends who moved to Sweden is coming tomorrow!)

He's not really an asshole. Just clueless. Very clueless.

Usually, with weird questions about Judaism, I figure it's better to just answer than to let people think whatever weird things they were thinking. But with him, it's starting to get to be a bit much.

How about "pin the clue on the gentile"?

Pets Hil's shoulder

You're a better person than I am.

For the "what does it feel like" question, I went with the standard-issue, "It's like when it's someone else's birthday. They're celebrating and having fun, and you can celebrate for them if you want, but it's not like you feel left out, because you've got your own birthday some other time." Which is pretty much verbatim what the rabbi told us when I was a little kid, about how we were supposed to feel on Christmas. I wasn't really in the mood to think out a real answer.

tangentially topical

Am fine (mostly), but am in ER. Am bored. Pronouns taken in lieu of copay. I had a fall and even though I did not hit my head, I lost consciousness for about 15 to 30 seconds. Poor Joe.