As a former teacher, I still use an Academic calendar. I finally made my September 2009 to September 2010 calendar to fill in important dates. First I put in family/friend birthdays, anniversaries and the like. Next, I put in the secular holidays. After that, it was time to place the Jewish holidays in and incorporate the school district calendar for NHL.
This year the High Holidays are in September and October and aside from Yom Kippur, all fall on the weekend. Although this means we will not be able to go to Six Flags during those weekends, it does mean that hubby will not need to take time off for Rosh Hashana (2 days), Sukkot (2 days), Shmini Atzeret (1 day) and Simchat Torah (1 day). This is huge in my mind. Of course, in noting this I was aware that next year would likely be a lot different.
As I went through December, I saw Chanukah starts in mid-December on the 11th (miss all the big Christmas sales again). Then I noticed that Purim was February 28. Oy! I knew at that moment it was not a good sign. Sure enough the Passover seders are Monday-Tuesday March 29-30. To put that into perspective, Easter is the following Sunday on April 4th. This means that JL will need to take off 5 days from work for Pessach. Fast forward to May and two days mid week for Shavuot.
Then, it was back to the High Holidays of 2010. Everything is during the week, except Yom Kippur which is a Saturday and my sister-in-law’s birthday. Everything is between September 9th and October 1st. I joked with JL that Chanukah would likely be in November given the early holidays. I was not far off. Next year, in 2010, Chanukah begins December 1st and we will light the last candle on my birthday.
So, if you are keeping track with me: That is 13 holidays that my hubby takes off of work because of his beliefs. Another item I realized is that NHL will miss his first day of Hebrew school. We have a family function that weekend. Since the Jewish holidays this year are all Saturday/Sunday combination, it means he will not have his first day until October 18th. Oy!
I always feel a little guilty (okay and appreciative) at how easy it is for those of us who are Christian. We do not have to worry about all of these things. My son’s birthday is in October and my niece’s birthday is in September and we get a glimpse of the balancing act when we try to plan their birthday parties (my ILs are Jewish). I cannot imagine balancing all of those things. I cannot keep just one calendar straight. :)
So move to Israel where it’s less of a problem? LOL