Can a Jewish-Buddhist guy learn to love Christmas?

 
The Not Boyfriend has been in my life for three years, but it is the first Christmas we will spend together. It’s the first Christmas he will celebrate in decades. For other couples, this might feel like a natural progression. But for us, and for his winding path of faith, it will be an interesting and tentative walk.

The Not Boyfriend was raised Jewish, and as soon as he was out on his own, he began to explore many other ways of being spiritual. He read and read and read, he dove deep into the waters of Maui, kibbutzed, floated in the Dead Sea, traveled extensively, sat in meditation, and finally shaved his head in recognition of his Buddhist journey.  He knows much more about the Bible than I do, a girl brought up in a Christian church and the granddaughter of a minister. But he also knows much more about the world’s religions and their histories and commonalities than I do. It’s part of how he serves his higher power. We don’t practice the same ways, we don’t hold fast to all of the same tenets, but our spirits are very much in sync. And when I tease him about reincarnation and he teases me about the Baby Jesus, it is usually part of some late-night conversation in the pitch dark about something that resides in the most protected parts of our soul.

Is it possible to open him to Christmas? To show him our world like a glittery snow globe that he will want to fit into with us?

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