thanks for linking to that awesome article.
(which all men should read, including myself, who might should read it twice.)

Natasha, you and I are kindred spirits.  I too was raised by a JW, although my father wasn't one.  But he followed her lead about holidays, worldiness, no college, etc.  I know exactly what you missed and I know exactly how you feel when people around you share some collective memory that you were excluded from.  My sister and brother were younger than me and oddly enough, don't have the same reaction that I have.  My mom left the JW's when I was 20, about 3 years after I left home to live with my grandparents.  I was never baptised by them (thank God).  I wanted a different future for myself than the ones I saw my JW friends having: dropping out of school, getting married and having kids right away, working as gas station attendants or cashiers at K-mart, waiting for the world to end.  I rejected it, left home, finished HS with my grandparents and struggled to navigate the college thing without a single person in my family helping me either financially or advisorally.  There was literally no one I could call upon.  My experiences in the world were so unlike other people's that it was hard to get used to.  Even today, I have trouble understanding my obligations during holidays.  
Yes, it was bad.  Yes, some religions are worse.  Yes, we lived through it.  And for some of us, it made us what we are today: fierce resistors who can spot a mindf%^& from a mile away.  
It's nice to know you're not alone, isn't it?  
BTW, Happy Birthday!, Merry Christmas!, Trick or Treat!