At age nine, my mom gave me a 14-karat gold collar with matching bracelets, each set with real diamonds, for the first night of Hanukkah. On Christmas Day, I wore them while singing as the lead boy in my choir, and under the church lights, I sparkled onstage.

The choir director received so many compliments about how beautiful the jewelry looked during the performance that he decided I should wear the collar and bracelets for every choir performance after that.