It's all about the candy

There’s a term called “High Holiday Jew.” This applies to Jewish people who only attend shul twice a year, during the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I used to fall into this category during college and a little bit beyond. Then I went to Israel in 2002 and all that changed. Anyway, I’m not actually spring-boarding off this topic to talk about the steps I’ve taken in my path to become more observant. That will come another time. I am just wondering if there is a term for more observant Jewish people who celebrate non-Jewish (but not church-related) holidays. I’m not talking about the American holidays of Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day or Thanksgiving. I’m referring to Halloween and Valentine’s Day. St. Patrick’s Day could fit in this category too, but I don’t follow that one at all. Could it be “Non-Jewish (but non-Church) holiday Jews”?
I wanted to touch on this topic because I have enjoyed celebrating both Halloween and Valentine’s Day my entire life. (Even when I wasn’t seeing someone during the latter.) I know there are things involved with both holidays that people who are even more observant than I am will not even fathom celebrating. However, I celebrate them for the surface things; the fun stuff I did as a kid and can do with my own kids. I love dressing my kids up to go trick-or-treating. I know that Purim is around the corner and that it still involves costumes and treats, but it’s different. I love carving a pumpkin and baking the seeds. I love that Halloween takes place during autumn, which is my favorite season. I love all the excitement my kids show for Halloween. We focus on the fun and silly things instead of the scary and macabre things. One of my friends throws the best Halloween parties, which I haven’t been able to attend since we moved away. I love seeing the pictures she takes of everyone in their clever costumes. I love the creative games and treats she has at these parties. I threw a Halloween party during the first year my husband and I were dating. It was a lot of fun and I still have my pictures and memories of that night. I went trick-or-treating or to Halloween parties with my friends in college. I’ve gone to “Rocky Horror” shows for Halloween on occasion. The movie fits best with that holiday. I’ve only had a couple of bad Halloweens, but it never ruined the holiday for me overall. This past Halloween, we couldn't go trick-or-treating because it was on Shabbos. However, we took the boys to a Halloween festival at an aviation museum. There were snacks, crafts, stories and a hayride. It was really cute. The boys still got to dress up too. I also stocked up on lots of costumes at the thrift store for both dress-up and Purim.
As for Valentine’s Day….I always liked making the pretty foil covered boxes to collect Valentine cards from my classmates. The candy is as much of a perk as it is on Halloween. If the conversation hearts were Kosher, I’d have them in my house. Somehow, a Hershey’s kiss wrapped in pink foil tastes that much sweeter. As I got older, I still enjoyed V-day even without a significant other to share it with (that didn’t happen till I was 18). I liked sending cards to family and friends. I enjoyed having a busy night at work (at my Chinese restaurant job in high school). I’d even get dressed in red and pink for school on V-day. Throughout college, my parents would send me fun V-day care packages with lots of chocolate. This was carried over from when they’d give me V-day presents as a kid. V-day was even a wake-up call for me one year. When I met my husband, we started dating around V-day and he brought me a card and rose on our first real date. Then he came over the night before V-day (he was going on a ski trip on the holiday and I had planned a girls’ night before I even knew he’d come into my life) and that’s when we had our first kiss. We went on fun and romantic dates every V-day. Our last real V-day date was the year I was pregnant with my older son. After that time, he joined us on our dates. This year, that is going to change and we’ll have our first V-day kids-free date since 2005! My older son is now aware of Valentine’s Day and excited to celebrate it at school. He’s always asking if it is V-day yet and then asking if it’s February yet, just in case he thinks he missed out on a holiday. I read him a story about it last night and I think he’s even more excited for it now.
I also like volunteering at my older son’s school for these holidays. I did it for Halloween and plan to for Valentine’s Day, as well. I love baking holiday-themed treats.
Before I became observant, I did actually like Christmas. (I never liked Easter though, since I couldn’t enjoy the candy due to Pesach.) That has changed for me though. However, nothing can change V-day or Halloween for me.