Bothering me
This might seem like not a big deal compared to the terrifying antisemitism ripping through the world at the moment, but I wanted to share a couple recent experiences I had with casual antisemitism/ignorance in my own family.
My brother and father both married non Jews (my mom died a long time ago.) Both have now been part of the family for 10+ years.
My brother and his wife recently had a beautiful baby A and when we were visiting to meet her l, with our own newborn B, my SIL (who by the way LOVES Christmastime to the point that her engagement ring was inspired by the shape of a snowflake) remarks "Oh, we were just talking about how jealous B is going to be that A gets to celebrate Christmas and she doesn't, haha."
I really had no answer to that. My brother doesn't practice any Judaism outside of lighting hannukah candles, so it's not like his wife is super aware that we have many, of our holidays which we enjoy celebrating as well. I know it comes from a place of supreme ignorance, and to be fair, many Jewish kids in America do grow up curious about Christmas because it's so culturally dominant. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing.
Not a week later, I'm with my dad and stepmom at a family event and they're talking about gardening and how much my dad loves his potato patch. And my stepmom loudly declares "He just loves looking for those potatoes in the ground because he never got to do Easter egg hunts!" I was really not pleased with her comment, which implies that us Jews are lacking something fundamental that we spend our lives longing for? My dad is literally 69 years old. Of course he is not wishing to do an Easter egg hunt.
Though their comments were light hearted, I can't help but feel a sense of distrust and discomfort that they casually believe that Jews apparently go around wishing they were Christians and feeling deprived of getting to participate in Christian traditions.