I love Christmas... but...

[JCoatsworth]

I love Christmas and the time before Christmas. It started snowing a few days ago, everything is white and beautiful. They're playing those rather annoying Christmas ads on the radio and on TV, but I still kind of like it. I just love the feeling. Receiving presents, giving presents, the food, being with my family on Christmas Eve.


...but...


I don't believe in god.
When I celebrate Christmas, I don't celebrate Christ's birth, I celebrate... well, Christmas. My whole life, I never celebrated Christmas because of Jesus, god or anything that has to do with religion. Or at least I never really thought of those things.
Anyway, what I want to say: There have got to be other people who don't celebrate Christmas for any religious reasons. There have got to be people like me, for whom it's just tradition and who never seriously think about what's behind the whole Christmas thing. In all those Christmas ads, have you ever seen Jesus or god? Well, maybe, but most likely not. Only Santa Claus, probably.

So, this thread is supposed to be about one simple question:
Do you celebrate Christmas because of your religiousness? Do you celebrate at all?

(Please don't start debating about whether Jesus and god exist or not. This is not why I started this thread. I don't want it to get out of hand and closed down. It is a sensitive subject, I know. Personally, I wouldn't mind a discussion, but please just answer the question, state your opinion, tell your story. Don't take apart other members' posts and comment on every single word. It has happened before and it can be fun, but it can also get complicated, stressful, ugly. I don't want that.)

 

[Kean]

I honestly don't know what my current relationship with Religion is. I was raised Catholic and live in a country that is very much culturally Catholic, though that is becoming less true. I think I'd like to have a strong Faith, it seems to be a comfort to people who do have it. What I do find I'm still drawn to is the ritual of it all, and lets be honest, Catholicism knows how to put on a show. I haven't gone to Mass since last Christmas Eve, but I'll go again this year because there are few things I love more than Christmas Eve Mass in my local cathedral. It's beautiful, and peaceful and for that 90 minutes I feel part of something bigger than myself. Whether it is just the general good will of the season and the people that surround me or a connection with a higher being I am still not really sure exists, whatever it is, I feel it.

And that is what I celebrate at Christmas. The good will and joy of it all. My family coming together. The storytelling. The sing songs. The food. The decorations. The lights. The music. Trying to find presents that is just right. The over all warmth of it. I think Christmas, just as a season, is a beautiful thing. I'd never give it up. Even without the religious aspect of it I think it is honestly the most perfect time of the year.

 

[tec]

Being a Buffy board I dont see this being an issue

All I can say is... hey do your own thing and I will do mine thats the best policy I beleave

 

[Robb Stark]

I don't celebrate Christmas for any sort of "god" or religious reasons, because I am not, in any way, a religious man. I just don't get faith in god. I celebrate and love Christmas basically for all the reasons you outlined. Family, giving gifts, seeing people I don't often get to see, great food. For me, Christmas is the one day of the year I can really just totally relax and enjoy everyone around me. I know, at its core, Christmas, with the whole "Christ-Mas" thing, is a religious holiday, but I don't celebrate it as such.

The way I look at it is, if Jesus was truly as selfless and true as he's always made out to be, if he was as he's told in the stories, then he wouldn't care if we're celebrating his birthday. He'd care that we take the time to appreciate our families and be together.

 

[kittenpoker]

I celebrate christmas for the pretty twinkling lights, the music, the smells and the santa. 🙂

 

[Nix]

I love Christmas as most know lol. But I am not religious. I love seeing peoples faces as they open presents, see the decorations and enjoy each others company and dinner of course lol. The look on my daughter's face as she opens the living room door is priceless 😀

And it's the only time of year I don't mind her waking me up early with her presents from Santa 😀

 

[sisterofmercy]

I'm very anti-religion but celebrate Christmas as much as I can. I love the carols and the mulled wine and presents and the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you're with the people you love and can forget about the stresses of everyday life for a while. I love that you can eat as much as you want and seeing my dog open her christmas presents with her paws and getting all excited is always the best part of my year.

Even as a young child I only associated christmas with religion in terms of hideous plays where that god awful Away in a Manger was sung. I love most other carols but after the 10th time of hearing that, I started hating it with a passion. I've done the Christian thing when I was in choir but I didn't think of it as religious. I saw it as a day when we actually performed to a congregation with more than 6 people in a cathedral that was above freezing for once. Plus we usually got presents, which was cool.

I think as long as you don't try and bring anyone else down, you should do what you like. Celebrate, don't celebrate, just don't tell me that I'm not allowed to because I'm not in your special club.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I don't think of Christmas as a religious holiday, it's all about the presents!

 

[Washburne]

Do you celebrate at all?

Yes.

Do you celebrate Christmas because of your religiousness?

No. Celebrating christmas is how I grew up and now as an adult I try to concentrate on the things I like. Seeing family and having a good, relaxing time. Nice food doesn't hurt either but is not important anymore. We don't celebrate thanksgiving in Sweden so I guess I mix that in together with santas and Jesus.

I hate the stress that christmas can cause. Have also stopped with christmas gifts, which I wouldn't if I had kids of my own. Since I don't it's not an issue. Now that being said, I don't mind religion in my celebration. Some of it I like a lot (Like school plays), some of it I don't care for. It's not based on religion, it's based on what I enjoy.

 

[Steven123]

To be honest i don't think a lot of people even view it that way.To a lot it is a day of relief after weeks of shopping and hectic searching, as well as spending and trying to find the right gift.

I don't celebrate for christmas that reason either, as silly as it sounds though since i believe in God. I don't know, i don't think I've ever really thought about it as now christmas has just become another day to me.

 

[SlayerFest]

I celebrate christmas for the pretty twinkling lights, the music, the smells and the santa. 🙂

Haha at first I thought that said "the smells of santa" I was like...whatttt? Hahah yes I am odd. I love Christmas. I love the smell of pine trees 😀. They're pine...right?

I know very few people who dislike Christmas. My best friend (who is ethnically Jewish and an Atheist) loves Christmas haha we both love to drive around looking at the lights together. It's just a nice time of year. I am not religious, at all, and to me Christmas isn't even about religion, but I'm not going to get into that. My family isn't very religious, at all. I think I've been to church 4 or 5 times, when I was very little. So to me, Christmas is about family, food, candles, and winter break whoo hoo!

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

I don't have a religion I practice right now, and I've always celebrated Christmas simply because its a time to be with family. I was never raised to believe in a certain religion

 

[ItMustBeBunnies]

Well, I am technically a Catholic. I was baptised and went to Catholic schools etc, but my parents pretty much just did that to please the grandparents and stuff. They aren't religious people at all. The only time I have ever been to church is when school use to make me.

So, I definitely have always just thought of christmas as being about presents and spending time with family. Oh, and time off work! I'm so looking forward to that! 😉

 

[Vamp Jenny]

Yes and no.

Yes, I have a whatever-you-call-it-in-English-with-baby-Jesus-and-Joseph-and-Marie-and-the-animals-and-all... but it's a non traditional one. (I should take a picture and explain to y'all in detail, the story I made about it is quite funny...) and I call the angel Gabriel "Gab" 'cause it's a lot shorter. And since Jesus was apparently not born in December but in March or whatever (according to scientific calculations) I don't celebrate His birth. But I believe in God.

Christmas for me is a time to get around with your family, eat lots of turkey, talk about everyone's year and make sure the next one will be better. Oh, and giving gifts (and receiving too), but that's not the main point.

 

[brinkster130]

I celebrate Christmas as both a religious and secular holiday. Personally I find that engaging in the religious traditions help keep me grounded throughout the secular traditions. I absolutely love the Christmas season, but I do think it is easy to get caught up in the commercial aspects of the holiday and forget about the things that truly matter like spending time with family and loved ones.

 

[VisionGirl]

I celebrate Christmas as both a religious and secular holiday. Personally I find that engaging in the religious traditions help keep me grounded throughout the secular traditions. I absolutely love the Christmas season, but I do think it is easy to get caught up in the commercial aspects of the holiday and forget about the things that truly matter like spending time with family and loved ones.

Yes me too. I celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday as well as the secular, community, & family aspects. And yes sometimes the SPEND SPEND SPEND aspect bugs me (Black Friday in particular).

But I don't really care how or why others celebrate- or not. Even though we do celebrate the religious aspects I'm not a "put Christ back into Christmas" or "Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays" person. Seriously I think people waste so much energy on that.

---------- Post added at 12:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------

And here's a Christmas funny for y'all: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/12/21/an-interview-with-the-nativity-innkeeper/

 

[Pike]

You really just have to figure out your own traditions. A lot of these holidays tie in or reflect off of one another. There is more than one religion that uses the Tree for this holiday.

I am an Atheist, and so is my wife. We both love celebrating Christmas. We typically say Happy Holidays and we have nothing to do with actual christmas. We mostly embrace Santa and the magical world behind that story.

Don't let others over-label these holidays to where they're no longer enjoyable. Rename things if you want to. I know I do. But I love me some Santa. Its hard raising three kids when you have family members from all sides giving your kids Nativity pieces every year but I just pick and choose my battles. I am no closet atheist. Very loud and proud. I just know a week after christmas the nativity pieces will be gone and we can go back to a normal way of living

🙂

 

[WileyDairyGnome]

I'm not religious, so I celebrate Christmas as a holiday to be with family and give gifts and all that. I celebrate it for the decorations and the music and movies and the nostalgic feeling. Hoping for snow on Christmas day, memories of staying up late and looking out my window to see if I'd catch Santa's sleigh in the sky.

Although I don't celebrate it for religious reasons, I totally respect that others do so I never see it as an issue. I love that people see Christmas as something more deep and meaningful as a part of religion. 🙂

 

[Sweet J]

I see Jesus as one of the greatest moral philosophers. However I doubt there is a God.
So I celebrate the day with mass and that's about it.
I follow this with many glasses of baileys, and have a few days of peace, love and reflection.