HOLIDAYS

By David Titmus | Photo by David Pinchot

But his snazzy wheels and mastery of multiplication tables weren’t the reason the other kids in Babyak’s South Hills neighborhood were jealous of him. They envied him because he celebrated two - count ‘em, two - Christmases.

Babyak grew up in a Serbian household and therefore, celebrated Serbian Christmas on Jan. 7. Members of the Serbian Orthodox faith follow the Julian calendar’s observance of Christ’s birth, which falls roughly two weeks after the Western calendar’s Dec. 25 holiday.

Though the faith holds true to many traditions - a Christmas Eve meal of fish and potatoes, a centerpiece symbolizing good health and luck and seasonal songs around a yule log - Babyak says the one thing people outside the religion always joke about is his luck in getting department stores’ after-Christmas sales.

“We used to hear a lot of that and part of it was true ... we certainly had the best sales,” Babyak, 30, says. “But we exchanged gifts earlier in the season, too, so it wasn’t that great.”

The Christmas season is here – really it’s been here since the stock boys began putting away the Halloween candy – and the shopping malls already are peppered with wreaths, twinkle lights and schedules to have pictures snapped with Santa. Folks can expect to hear such seasonal classics as “Run Rudolph Run” and dogs barking “Jingle Bells” on the radio, and before long we’ll be able to catch 24 hours of Ralphie on the Superstation. But, while Hallmark and Madison Avenue execs tend to think otherwise, the Christmas season is not a commodity, and it’s not celebrated by everyone. Well, not if they can help it.

“Though I don’t hold the same beliefs, I do like the season,” says a rather sheepish David Egger, a member of a Southwestern Pennsylvania atheist’s group. The small group meets at different locations - usually bookstores and coffee houses - each month to discuss their beliefs, or non-beliefs, as the case would be. Egger regards the upcoming season as a holiday but doesn’t assign any special meaning to it. He exchanges gifts, attends family dinners and watches “Frosty the Snowman” on the tube.

“It’s like Thanksgiving for me, but with sweaters with reindeers on them,” he jokes. “I treat it like ‘Festivus.’”

Though some non-Christians find it tough to navigate the seasonal waters around the Christmas holiday, Babyak said his family had very few problems.

“It actually worked out for me, we celebrated Christmas twice,” he says. “I got all those days off from school for their Christmas vacation, and then got another week off when we celebrated.”

He also benefited from parents who allowed him to open a gift the morning of Dec. 25 so that he’d have something to share with his Catholic friends in the neighborhood.

“They understood how important it was to feel like part of the group, especially for a little kid,” he says. “But we did hold true to our traditional family beliefs and I really looked forward to that part each year.”

Other celebrations, such as Hanukah, which is celebrated by millions in the United States, are just as anticipated. But it’s at Christmas time that many Jewish people realize the cultural differences between Jews and Gentiles, and few can ignore the holiday season’s barrage of Santa Clauses, elves and red-nosed reindeer.

“I’ve heard it described as ‘the Christmas problem,’” says Jon Hewitt, an Upper St. Clair resident.

Hewitt, 42, remembers coloring pictures of Santa Claus and making decorations for the Christmas tree with the other students in his elementary class. He says it wasn’t until he brought the decorations home that he realized he had no place for them.

“That’s really when I first noticed the differences,” he says. “My Dad was a little more upset about it than Mom.”

“It made me feel weird about the whole thing and about myself. I’ve never celebrated Christmas, but I want my kids to know that even though people have different beliefs, it’s a season for families and friends, no matter what.”

Hewitt says that if there is a “Christmas problem,” it’s that the holiday has been made a commodity and has grown so large it runs the risk of losing its message. It’s become more of a time for fruitcakes, Grinches living atop Who-ville, and George Bailey realizing the importance of all he has.

“The celebration of the birth of Christ has been diluted by the mass marketing of the holiday,” Hewitt says, and, therefore, has made it somewhat easier for people of all faiths to partake, if only for a little, in the season.

“I do love that time of the year. I get to spend the Holy Days with my family and also get to experience the joy and love that’s literally plastered all over the city. I can separate the two.”

So, yes, Virginia, there is a holiday, whether it features Midnight Mass, lighting the menorah or dinner with family is entirely up to you. •