MONTRÉAL, QC—28-year-old copywriter Deborah Stein recently decided that the Jewish High Holidays would be the perfect time to introduce her new boyfriend to her family.

"Pat and I have been dating for about 8 months, and he hasn't met my family yet," Stein explains. "Rosh Hashanah seemed like a good excuse for him to meet everyone."

Patrick Reid, Stein's 32-year-old web designer boyfriend, says he's excited about this development, and is looking forward to taking that next step with Stein tonight.

"She told me she wants me to meet her family! So I'm going to her parents house for dinner around six," Reid grins. "I'm going to meet her parents, her grandparents, her younger sister who's home from university, and I'm finally going to meet this Rosh guy."

Of all Stein's relatives, Reid seems particularly intrigued by Rosh.

"Her parents and grandparents sound nice enough. And I bet I'll get along with her sister," Stein muses. "But the one I'm really curious about is this Rosh Hashanah. Deborah keeps mentioning him, how he's important to family, and how her family is all getting together because he's visiting or something."

Reid admits he knows little else about Mr. Hashanah.

"Deborah hasn't really said what he does or what kind of person he is. It's all kind of mysterious," says Reid. "I wonder what's so important about him. Maybe he's a spy?! The first thing I'm going to do when I get there is to ask her entire family what the deal is with this guy."

Despite Reid's enthusiasm about meeting the family, Stein admits she is feeling a bit nervous about the get-together.

"My family is very traditional when it comes to religion," she says. "We take this dinner pretty seriously. So I'm really hoping that Pat will make a good impression on them."

Fortunately for Stein, Reid acknowledges that it is possible he may be overlooking something when it comes to Rosh Hashanah.

"Oh man. Now that I think about it, I am making a lot of assumptions about this whole situation," he muses. "I could be completely wrong. For all I know, Rosh Hashanah could be a woman."