Jewish identity at OUR house!

I just had an experience in the past couple of days which made me think. My mom, who is not Jewish, went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and bought us a set of three small artificial evergreen trees, already threaded with white lights. She thought we would love to put them in our front yard. She said they were just trees, not Christmas trees. I said "They are Christmas trees." She said "No, they are not Christmas trees. The box does not say 'Christmas' on it." I told her that I would talk to my family but was pretty sure they would agree with me.

I told my family at home.

Our 14-year-old agreed that they look like Christmas trees.

Our 20-year-old said "If someone sees those in the front yard, they will absolutely assume that this household celebrates Christmas."

My husband Jordan said "Can you imagine what my parents would think?" (His mother grew up in Poland and associated Christmas trees with the Cossacks getting drunk at Christmas-time and going out to kill some Jews.)

I told my mom that our family is in agreement that we do not want to put Christmas trees in our front yard.

She said "Oh, Jordan doesn't like them?"

I said "No, I am Jewish and I don't like them!"

This exchange made me feel crazy.