by still angry 27 Replies latest jw friends
Yes! I'm horrible at it. I have to keep it all annotated in my dayrunner so as not to forget birthdays, anniversaries (Christmas isn't too hard) but in my house, we have all the Jewish Holidays on top of it!!! OY VEY!!
We're always celebrating SOMETHING! But I really love it.
~Brigid
I was only in for 11 years and I had a very hard time getting back into the swing of remembering everyone's birthdays. I'm late on another one, as a matter of fact. Back when I was fully immersed in dubdom I used to go to work on my birthday and not even remember it.
You would think because I wasn't raised in the religion it would be easy to go back to celebrating, but it really was very difficult for the first year.
Hi, TooOpinionated! I'm also in Wisconsin, just outside of Madison. Currently trying to dig out of the 11 inches we got yesterday, so I'm happy to take a break from shoveling.
I'm in Wisconsin Rapids. We are digging out, too-time for a hot chocolate break!
Moi.
Some years, I seem to do better than others! I've been out over twenty, and still have a hard time remembering birthdays. The major holidays like Xmas and Turkey Day are not so bad.. but people's birthdays, oh my gawd. Some years I remember all familial birthdays, and forget everyone else's .. but at least if I remember in the week following I always say "sorry" and send a belated card. Thank God for belation.. heheh.
CG
I was raised a JW from the age of 4. I remember one Christmas and 2 Halloweens, and a couple of birthdays.
I don't have a problem with any of it now. My children are all very involved in holidays for their children, so, not wanting to be left out, we decided to jump in too. I admit it felt funny at first, 8 years ago, but not now. No one does anything for Easter, maybe because we just aren't religious at all, and that one seems pretty churchy.
Birthdays were never a problem for me because our entire extended family always recognized birthdays, and sent funny cards as a joke. No one was offended and everyone knew we were being silly about it, and ribbing each other for getting older. We didn't do that for the children, so as not to "confuse them". How dumb is that? I always told my kids "Happy Birthday" on their birthdays, and I don't think a year has gone by since I left home, that my mother hasn't called me to wish me a happy birthday. My father did the same, until his mind failed him.
I take my JW mother (93) to lunch on her birthday every year, and she looks forward to it very much. I buy her Mother's Day gifts and birthday presents, which she accepts too. When we were all JW's, she would often say she wished we could celebrate Mother's Day because mothers deserve a special day. I guess she still feels that way.
What on earth was the deal with Mother's & Father's Day? I was a jw for all of my childhood and I could never figure some of that out. What was wrong with honoring your mom and dad?
I totally get what you are going through, stillangry. I became a dub in my late twenties so I was raised on holidays, but now, after 20 years of not celebrating anything, I'm finding it hard to get back in to the swing...I also question why I even should bother getting back into some of this stuff. Seems like there's a potential card/present-buying opportunity just about every other week. LOL
