The Question of Culture

Halloween. Christmas. Valentine's Day...

The list goes on. The list is of holidays (in no particular order) that are part of the culture that I come from. I'm at the point when I really want to stress the importance of the cultures that Shimon and I share because we are a couple. Most of the time he just listens to me babble about things that I want to do in the future (Christmas trees, etc.).

On occasion his minimalist tendencies bubble over and he says things like "we don't need a tree" for Christmas or "what would we do with a pumpkin AFTER it's a jack-o-lantern, it would just get in the way." It's at these times when I realize I have not insisted enough on sharing the real importance of the symbols of Christmas or Halloween or whatever holiday happens to be discussed. I NEED to be better at discussing the importance of my cultural heritage with Shimon and I haven't much thus far.

This year will be a low-budget Christmas celebration, but that does not mean that there can't be a lot of holiday cheer involved. :-) It just hit me last night that I have not been as vocal about the cultural celebrations that I want to share with Shimon and I need to start being more specific about what I would like to do for some of the holidays that are important to me.

Sometimes I have really delayed reactions to the fact that I am operating in two cultures, but my significant other is not. He's operating in his own culture. In order to bring him closer to my culture, I have to make a concerted effort. Here's to doing that in full force from now on! (Well, maybe not full force, but there will be much more effort from now on!)

Now... any recipes for Christmas goodies that don't require an oven?? I have limited oven access, so any recipes that don't require one would be AWESOME!!