Christmas

[Sheeplauncher]

I know many of you are ex-Christians and since many of our families still remain Christian how do deal with Christmas. Obviously the whole family comes together so do you take part or not show up. this is probably my first X-mas as an atheist so i am kind of conflicted...

[LoneMateria]

Don't feel bad celebrating. Just celebrate a different holiday. On December 25th it is the winter solstice ... the day the sun is furthest away from the earth. So smile and drink and spend time with your family. If they insist on Pagan traditions like the tree then thats their choice. Celebrate the Winter Solstice like you would any other holiday... eat, drink, and be merry and have a good time with your friends/family.

[Sheeplauncher]

Right, well that is given but do you give gifts to your family etc?

[AlP]

I give gifts to my family at Christmas. They're atheists too. All of them =).

In terms of other things you could celebrate if it bothers you, there's HumanLight and Festivus. The latter is a joke of course.

[G-Roll]

All the fun stuff of Christmas is Pagan. More like American now a days though. I cant speak for Europeans. Santa Clause is about as religous as the Easter Bunny. I think gift exchaging, many carrols, egg nogg, getting trashed at dinner and calling youre sister a whore, and a xmas feasts are all non religous.

Party on dude

[Sheeplauncher]

sounds like a plan

[AlP]

Good advice G-Roll. I'm not creative enough to make a good avatar either. The difference is I'm not sorry =).

[Will]

All the fun stuff of Christmas is Pagan. More like American now a days though. I cant speak for Europeans. Santa Clause is about as religous as the Easter Bunny. I think gift exchaging, many carrols, egg nogg, getting trashed at dinner and calling youre sister a whore, and a xmas feasts are all non religous.

Party on dude

It doesn't even stop there! The Christmas tree and yule log both were adapted into Christianity from other religions/local practices. Even the manger scene is lifted directly from earlier savior myths. In short, nothing at all about Christmas can really be traced back to Christianity.

[karadan]

I celebrate christmas as fervently as if i were religious. The only difference being, i don't actually celebrate Jesus' birthday. It is more of an 'appreciate my family by eating vast amounts of food' festive holiday. I've managed to bag 7 days off work this year (i had to work christmas eve and the day after boxing day last year Oo) so i'm proper happy about it. I'm going to get some socks with little reindeer faces on them and i'm going to be in charge of making the turkey gravy. I rule at making gravy. We're going to sing carols (my mum's request - i want to keep her happy) and watch various christmas TV whilst drining spiced wine.
Man, i'm looking forward to christmas dinner.

What can i say? I'm a stickler for tradition.

(edit) all my family are atheist or antitheist.

[templeboy]

Christmas in the Southen Hemisphere=win

Although there must be something appealing about a nice comforting family holiday when the days are short and the air is cold....

[G-Roll]

I celebrate christmas as fervently as if i were religious. The only difference being, i don't actually celebrate Jesus' birthday. It is more of an 'appreciate my family by eating vast amounts of food' festive holiday. I've managed to bag 7 days off work this year (i had to work christmas eve and the day after boxing day last year Oo) so i'm proper happy about it. I'm going to get some socks with little reindeer faces on them and i'm going to be in charge of making the turkey gravy. I rule at making gravy. We're going to sing carols (my mum's request - i want to keep her happy) and watch various christmas TV whilst drining spiced wine.
Man, i'm looking forward to christmas dinner.

What can i say? I'm a stickler for tradition.

(edit) all my family are atheist or antitheist.

Thats awesome Enjoy your upcomming holidays.

[Wendy]

Christmas has become a part of American culture. It's a national holiday and also a tradition in my family. How many non-atheists actually celebrate Christmas with Jesus' birth in mind? My parents considered themselves to be Christians, but I don't really remember much talk/thought about Jesus. I'm all for celebrating the Santa myth with my kids. I know some will say that's lying to my kids, but I don't remember really being disappointed when I realized Santa wasn't real. It's just something FUN about Christmas, in my opinion. (I also don't want my kids to be the one's to tell the other kids there is no such thing as Santa.)

[Whitney]

I see nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas....in my family it's always been about family rather than religion anyway.

[Sophus]

Bah Humbug!

I still celebrate it but... it's gotten old.

[Squid]

Christmas is a syncretic holiday. Christians just cut and pasted their own stuff into already existing celebrations from winter solstice feasts and the Roman Saturnalia. Things like the tree, the decorations, the yule log, mistletoe, exchange of gifts, feasting were all part of celebrations around that time. Hell, the Puritans in England banned Xmas for about a decade. The creation of Xmas was just a religio-political move and nothing more.