If you are in an interfaith marriage, it is possible to have meaningful holiday celebrations if you keep your lines of communication open and remember to be flexible. Here are more suggestions for interfaith marriage holiday survival.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: Varies
Here's How:
- Put your marriage relationship with your spouse first. Religious traditions are important, but your marriage needs to be your top priority.
- Don't assume you know what is important holiday wise for your spouse. Couples in interfaith marriages have a great deal to learn about one another's faiths. Talk about holidays past and one another's holiday expectations.
- Support one another.
- Discover what your faiths have in common.
- Create new holiday traditions by blending both of yours together or build on existing ones.
- Brainstorm solutions. You don't always have to celebrate the holidays the way others have celebrated.
- Be flexible. Be willing to spend some time with one another's families.
- Teach your children about the rich heritages that you each bring to your marriage.
- Enjoy one another!
- Share with one another your remembrances of the season as a child. Try to bring that childlike joy into the holidays.
Tips:
- Remember that communication and flexibility are the keys to an interfaith couple enjoying the holidays together. Keep talking, keep asking questions, and keep learning from one another.
- Accept that you can't always have it your way.
- Make sure that it is the two of you who are making your decisions regarding the holidays and not either of your parents.
What You Need
- Memories
- Patience
- Flexibility
- Sense of Humor
- Open Communication
- Creativity
