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Miller, S. K. (2014, January 24). Myths about Raising interfaith kids. Retrieved from huffingtonpost.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-katz-miller/7-myths-about-raising-interfaith-kids_b_4177648.html

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My parents have been married for over 42 years. They taught us that sometimes marriage is hard but it is worth it in the end.

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Here is my father's father before he headed off to WWII to serve in the South Pacific.

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The stunning lady on the front row on the left is my Grandmother, Bea Lynch.

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Here is a picture of my great-great grandparents. Frank and Louise Bambace in 1940.

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As I have started a family of my own, I often wonder what new traditions I will pass down to my children. I hope to merge my family values with those of husband's.

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My Grandfather served our country during WWII and today my brother is an officer in the Army, as well.

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We have been making the same cookie recipe in my family since my mom was a little girl.  My grandmother and her sisters used to spend entire Saturdays baking.

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Here is a picture of my mom and my uncle from 1957.

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I think it is important that we learn as a country to love and accept one another. I am sure we have all faced some sort of prejudice or diversity in our lives but it is how we react to it that shapes who we are.
When I was about 7 years old, we lived in Kentucky for a year. It was the first time we moved away from our big family unit. After a few weeks at my new school, a girl in my class asked me where my horns were. I can remember being so confused. What in the world was she talking about. She then proceeded to tell me that her parents told her that all Jewish people were born with horns and a tail. So I went home and asked my parents what happened to my horns. Was I really born with horns? I am sure my parents were upset but they never let on. They told me to tell the little girl that it was shaved off when when I was born. But they also told me that some people don't always have all the facts and that I will sometimes come across people who are ignorant and instead of fighting back I can do my best to educate them.  And if that doesn't work, I can't change others, I can just work on myself.   I think that is a hard lesson to learn as a small child but it is something that has stuck with me.

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Jewish people have often been blamed and persecuted for their beliefs. People also think that Jewish people have a stereotypical look to them: dark curly hair, big noses, olive skin, etc. My brother actually gets his blue eyes from my Jewish dad and not my Italian/Irish mother's family. So I think it is stereotypical to assume that people look a certain way.
Italian people are often considered to have a hot temper or ties to the mob.
Often people will assume that if you are Italian you know everything about the movie Goodfellas.

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I think the main assumption about someone who grows up in a mixed faith household is that we often lack a religion. I am always asked by people what am I, referring to religion.   I always say that I am a mixture of both and I think that is hard for some people to understand.
People are often concerned that a child who grows up in a mixed faith house hold will be confused or that we must choose between our two parents. Huffington post published an article listing the top 13 myths about growing up in a mixed faith household.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-katz-miller/7-myths-about-raising-interfaith-kids_b_4177648.html
I feel lucky that I have a connection to two of the most ancient religions.   Personally, I don't feel like I have to explain my beliefs to anyone and I never ask others about theirs but I don't feel like I missed out.  I have a profound respect and love for both religions and feel lucky to have experienced both.   I want the same for my children one day.

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My great grandparents began working at an early age and never had much schooling.   Neither sets of my grandparents went to college.  My father's dad graduated early from high school so that he could enlist in WWII.  My mother's dad graduated from the police academy.  My parents were the first members of their families to go to college.
It was never a question in my house that my brother and I would go to college. We just knew that was expected of us.  It is an expectation that my own children go to college someday.

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I was raised in a mixed-faith household. My mother was Catholic and my father was Jewish. I was raised to respect differences in religions.
I would go to church on major holidays with my mother and observe the major Jewish holidays with my father. I feel lucky to have had the exposure to both of these experiences.  My dad has always said that religion is an extremely personal choice and that God is with us wherever we go and it doesn't matter if our beliefs match up exactly.   We just need to respect other faiths.
How I live my life isn't rooted in my religious teaching growing up. At its core, life is about being an honest person who accepts people for who they are.  I understand that we are all flawed but are not defined by our flaws.

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Many of my family traditions revolved around food. Every other Sunday, we would go to my Italian maternal grandmother's house for a traditional Italian dinner. We would gather as a large family unit to reminisce about the week.
On the other Sundays, we would meet at my paternal grandparents' house for a big breakfast that was filled with traditional Jewish delicacies.
We celebrated Christmas and Hanukah in the winter and we celebrated Passover & Easter in the spring.

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In my family, my mother stayed home to raise us while my dad went to work.   My mother is the primary care giver and my father is the primary provider.
However, I knew at an early age that I was expected to go to college and have a career of my own.
My parents modeled an incredible work ethic. I think I learned that by watching my parents work as a unit to ensure our needs were met and I watched as my dad worked his way up through the ranks of a company.

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I grew up in a two parent household.  We spent a large portion of my childhood living in New York.  We lived in the same town as my grandparents and my many cousins.
We moved to Ga when I was 15 and left that large close knit family unit behind.

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Family Tree

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My family is such a mixture of different ethnicity it hard for me to choose just one to talk about.  I feel that I am a true product of the melting pot of America.   I was born to an Irish/Italian mother who was raised in the Catholic Church and to a Turkish/Spanish father was raised in the Jewish Faith.
Both sets of great grandparents passed through Ellis Island as immigrants in the early 1900's.   They both settled in different parents of NY.
My mother's family was a mixture of Irish and Italians.  My grandmother was one of 12 children and rumor has it that a few of my great-great uncles might have been connected to the Mafia. My great aunt was widowed at a pretty early age and it wasn't until I was much older that I learned of his connection to the mafia.
My dad's family came from a part of Turkey where they were Spanish refuges.  They are referred to as Sephardic Jews. People who are of Sephardic decent speak a language that is a mix of Hebrew and Spanish.  It is a very distinct sect of Judaisms that is very similar to Orthodox Jews. My grandparents would speak this in the home but wanted my father and his siblings to speak English to help assimilate in the American Culture.