Not a Christmas Tree

At Temple today they had a family program.  Since Hannah is not involved in Sunday School yet, she tags along with us.  As part of the program we were painting umbrellas and making Hannukah cards for a member of our Congregation who is in Isreal. 

Hannah immediately got to work on her card.  Bob showed her how to make a menorah.  She made a really nice one.  It was very pretty.  Clearly the artistic talent in the family fell to her.  Then, Bob showed her how to make a dreidle.  I walk up to the scene.  Hannah, hard at work, Bob reading the paper.  I look down and what I see, is a triangle, colored green and red with a brown square at the bottom.  I wish I had a picture of what she had drawn.  But, it looked just like a Christmas tree. 

This is the point, I think, great, her father isn't paying attention and our four year old has outed us as bad Jewish parents.  Great, how am I going to explain this one?  I mean really, what was her father doing, if he had just been paying attention, we could have avoided the situation all together.  Of course, there is our educator and our Rabbi, coming now, to see what she is doing.  Making a freakin' Christmas Tree at Temple, that is what my daughter is doin'.  The feeling was close, but not quite as bad as when Sam wished the Rabbi Merry Christmas.  Another proud moment.

I ask Hannah to let me see her card, thinking I could hide it from them.  Do some last minute rip and eat the evidence.  At which point she announces that she made a menorah on one side and she was working on a dreidle.  The sigh of relief was audible.  I was looking at it upside down.  It was not a Christmas Tree, and I did not have to 'splain myself to the educator and the Rabbi who where now talking to Hannah.  Not that our lesbian, recovering alcoholic Rabbi with a partner who was not born Jewish, and we aren't sure if she has even converted, would probably care.  But, it is still a sticky wicket I was glad to have avoided.

So, we left Temple today, with our gold star of good Jewish parenting, still intact.  I am sure I will blemish it sometime this week, but at least it was shiny for Temple.