(GSF:)I was raised Jewish. However, all my friends celebrated Christmas, as my town had very few Jews. So I celebrated Hanukkah in my home and Christmas with my friends.

No one expected me to worship Jesus, though most years I went to fish dinners and midnight mass with my friends on Christmas Eve.
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Wow. You're older than I would have guessed, if you remember Christmas Eve being a meatless day for Catholics. It always seemed so silly to me. The Church decreed it as a day of penance, in anticipation of the feast day of Christmas. So Catholics "made do" with lobster and caviar, in many cases. Penance, indeed. In my wife's family, oyster stew was a tradition. In mine, it was finan haddie (Scotch-or-Irish-style smoked fish. Just like lox, only Irish.)

Bill