After X-Mas Sale
Dig Savings
Coping
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Bernard will return to
Cleveland on Wednesday to
spend the New Year holiday
with his family. And he says he
will return with a different
attitude toward them. "I guess
I appreciate my family a little
more, just getting together
with them. Because when I was
in the same city with them, I
would take it for granted, some
of the times when we would be
together. Sometimes, really
don't want to come home for
dinner tonight, or go over to
Mom's for dinner tonight,'
whatever. Now that I don't
have that opportunity, I miss
getting together with my
brothers and sisters or the
other relatives."
Marsha Kelter, of the Young
Adult Division of the Jewish
Welfare Federation, deals with
many singles as well as some
married people, on the job.
Kelter says the Federation
has not been asked to plan any
special singles functions for
the holidays, although they
would do so, if asked. "We have
a volunteer group, from the
Young Adult Division, that's
going to work at Sinai Hospital
on Christmas day, they're
going to be visiting patients
and assisting the staff.
"If our constituency says, 'we
would like to have some kind of
Chanukah celebration, where
we could meet other young,
Jewish people in the commu-
nity and celebrate the holiday
in a more family-like setting,'
we would provide that for
them, we would work with
them to provide that to meet
their needs."
As for the Jewish'Commu-
nity Center, Cole says, "there
was a Thanksgiving dinner at
someone's home. There isn't
any particular Chanukah
party." She adds, "I wouldn't
think Jewish singles have it
any more difficult than anyone
else, because it's a holiday time
for anyone."
Kelter adds tha holiday
blues can strike anyone. "I
think people who are alone, the
aged, certainly feel it. And I've
heard young people express it,
particularly those who are
here from out-state and can't
go home for the holidays."
Native area singles observe
the various holidays in various
ways. Those who spoke for pub-
lication all enjoy the season.
Perhaps those who declined to
be interviewed are those who
have problems with the holi-
days.
Lisa Sommers has a tradi-
tional, family Thanksgiving,
but not a traditional
Chanukah. "Chanukah now,
we do it at my house, or one of
my sister's houses, as opposed
to my parents. And we celeb-
rate only one of the nights. We
just pick the one that's most
convenient to all of us, and
everyone gets together."
Richard Bioder's celebra-
tions are traditional, but, "It's
not traditional in the sense of
religious
traditional.
Thanksgiving is just dinner
with family, aunts and uncles,
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that type of thing." Chanukah,
he adds, is, "even more infor-
mal . . . We light the candles
. . . It's more of the immediate
family, not aunts or uncles."
Ronald Fry, who has, "a
fairly good-sized family," in
the metro area, describes holi-
day festivities as, "kind of a
traditional thing. I don't have
to go anywhere to be with my
family, so it's basically the
same type of thing from year-
to-year."
Sommers, an attorney, says
during the holidays, "I have
more time on my hands. Be-
cause there's an extra day off
here or there. It's a terrible
thing to say — if I'm dating
someone that I like or if I have
a date on the weekend, then I
don't feel lonesome at all. But I
was married for a while and I
know that when this time
would come, and I was mar-
ried, it was great. Because
there was always someone to
do something with. And now
with the extra time on your
hands, there's just a little more
time to plan and to feel a little
lonesome, if it's unplanned. In
my line of work, though, I am
so busy from now until the end
of the year, that I don't even
realize it, until about New
Year's Eve. Then I realize, 'oh
my God, a whole 'nother year
has gone, and the holidays are
over and now it's really going
to pick up.' "
Broder, who deals in com-
mercial real .estate, finds the
season, "a little quieter, both at
work and in general. Mostly
because people have started to
leave town. Various people
have varying vacation
schedules."
Broder's pet peeve is New
Year's Eve, which he generally
avoids by traveling. "It's kind
of a pointless holiday. You're
forced to go out and.celebrate,
— which is something you can
do any weekend of the year.
But you're not forced into it. .
enjoy traveling, so if I'm at a
more interesting place, all the
better."
Fry sums up his feelings on
the holidays this way: "It's an
enjoyable time for me because,
being a native Detroiter, I have
my friends and family to celeb-
rate it with, and my grand-
mother comes in from Chicago.
Our family is sort of centered
in the Detroit area — although
we do have relative's in other
areas — most of us are living in
this area. So it's a good time for
me, it's an enjoyable time, it's a
family time.
"I suppose if I was someone
who was from out-of-state, this
might not be such a fun time, if
they couldn't get away to be
with their family. But for me, I
won't say it's terrific, I mean,
I'm in business (wholesale-
industrial valve and pipe fit-
tings) and this is the slow time
for my business, so in one sense
it's not great. But from a per-
sonal viewpoint it's fairly
nice."
Sommer's occupation gives
her added opportunities to
socialize. "A lot of my clients
have office parties and when
I'm invited I always go to those.
In my, office we have holiday
parties, we have one that's a
firm function and then one
that's just a sub-group of the
firm. I go to those, I participate,
I cook for them and that kind of
stuff. It's a good time."
Fry does not see his clients
during the holidays; because,
"all the factories close down,
the auto, companies, all of a
sudden, for two or three weeks,
they stop buying. So it's the
exact opposite of a retailer."
But he puts the season in good
perspective. "So it's a slow time
for us. But in a good sense,
everyone in my family's
healthy and happy. So from
that viewpoint I'm very happy.
It's a good time." ❑
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