Tim was Catholic, I am Jewish. I never celebrated Christmas or even decorated a tree until I met Tim. Once we started living together we would have my mom and sister over for Christmas, so it was the 4 of us and Tim’s brother who lived with us. We’d combine traditions by having Christmas ham and my mom would make latkes. One of my favorite holiday pictures is of the lit menorah with the Christmas tree in the background.

Tim was in charge of making the Christmas ham and it was always so good. But the best part was using the leftover ham for split pea soup for New Year’s. I was never a fan of split pea soup, but Tim made the BEST split pea soup.

Without Tim I’m back to “Jewish Christmas” which is Chinese food and movies on Christmas day, but I do miss our combined traditions.