Santa?

[TigerLily]

HollyDay
My mom's dad was Jewish, and her mom was Christian, my Dad is an atheist. We always celebrated Christmas, and even though we believed in Santa, it wasn't about Santa at all. It was about giving and getting gifts, spending time with family, eating together, traditions etc... We also celebrated Easter with a huge easter egg hunt and dinner, but we weren't really celebrating the ressurection, and we never believed in the Easter Bunny.

[Chrisada]

Serious question: If you don't do Santa and you don't do Jesus, why do you celebrate Christmas at all?

I'm athiest, and we celebrate Christmas as a special time to be with family and to give. Seriously the Christmas tree, lights, etc. ain't got nothing to do with Jesus or Santa if you look at the origins. The history of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place and in December on top of that, have lights on our homes, and trees decorated in our homes is fascinating.

[Deebs]

Heidi,
If you're an Atheist, WHY , WHY, WHY are your MIL and FIL coming to your house for Christmas? Can't that get you out of this visit? Isn't that what they're coming for? I'm just saying...

[ides]

I'm athiest, and we celebrate Christmas as a special time to be with family and to give. Seriously the Christmas tree, lights, etc. ain't got nothing to do with Jesus or Santa if you look at the origins. The history of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place and in December on top of that, have lights on our homes, and trees decorated in our homes is fascinating.

Yes.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

But why Christmas, you know? To me, Christmas is as much of a Christian holiday as Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday (even if culturally adapted aspects of "Christmas" such as the tree were taken from the pagan tradition). If you (general you) are going to adopt a religious holiday as your own, why Christmas? Why not celebrate Hanukkah? Or Kwanza? Or just plain ole Winter Solstice? It's just interesting to me how the Christmas holiday has become so ubiquitous in our society, whereas other holidays that are distinctive integral parts other religions/cultures have not.

[Vanquisher]

Cuz it's more popular, widely adopted, you definitely have it off of work, and most of your family is still probably Christian. I grew up Christian. It's what I know. I've chosen to celebrate what I grew up with secularly. And, honestly, it's not that different (if at all).

[Chrisada]

I don't see much Christ in Christmas. So many of my Christian friends are running around crazy getting Christmas trees, decorating, making cookies, going into debt over presents, spending hours and hours shopping, planning Christmas dinner menus. Some Christians will got to church on Christmas Eve for an hour or two, but much more effort and time is put into everything else IMO. And the people I have seen proclaiming to keep the Christ in Christmas are the same ones with a boatload of presents under their tree baking cookies for everyone. Why do I need to be a Christian to do all of that? Which is why I say Christmas is whatever you want it to be for your family.

And I'm also the atheist saying Merry Christmas to everyone.

[TigerLily]

Cuz it's more popular, widely adopted, you definitely have it off of work, and most of your family is still probably Christian.

yep.

and
I'm Christian, although I'm not very good at it. I spend lots of time shopping and cooking and eating to prepare for Christmas. I almost NEVER go to the Christmas service at Church. (it's way too full) I do try to spend extra time thinking about Christ's birth and I usually read the story in the Bible with my husband. But in all honesty, we celebrate Christmas with gifts and food and games and family. I wish I could say that we are just celebrating Christ's birth, but if we were we would probably do things a whole lot differently.

[poky]

Serious question: If you don't do Santa and you don't do Jesus, why do you celebrate Christmas at all?

Because this:

“On every world, wherever people are, in the deepest part of the winter, at the exact mid-point, everybody stops and turns and hugs. As if to say, "Well done. Well done, everyone! We're halfway out of the dark." Back on Earth we call this Christmas. Or the Winter Solstice.”

It's just easier to call the celebration "Christmas" than to be particular about calling it something else. It's shorthand for "lighted tree, presents, family, etc.".

In our house, we would go to church on Christmas Eve, come home, go to bed, and wake up to filled stockings (little stuff, snacks, candy, small cheap toys) from "santa". That's as far as the Santa stuff went, nothing more elaborate. I don't even remember how old I was when I realized mom and dad were filling the stockings. Probably relatively young. We still do stockings when we are together for Christmas, only we all contribute to them, now.

[corn poffi]

I actually celebrate hanukkah too

[alison]

Serious question: If you don't do Santa and you don't do Jesus, why do you celebrate Christmas at all?

I'm coming out of lurk mode to respond to this.

Isn't how we celebrate holidays a personal thing, insofar that each family celebrates/interprets them in the way that they see fit?

You know that plastic tree that you have in your living room? Yeah, the one that you call a CHRISTmas tree? Well, it's arguable if it is even based on anything Christian to begin with. I guess a tree is a lot nicer to stacks piles of presents under than a nativity scene...

So if I choose to make Christmas a strictly cultural tradition in my house isn't that a legit way to celebrate it?

Sure, you can celebrate the holidays however you like. I only find it interesting that non-Christians would choose to celebrate a winter holiday where the primary intent is to celebrate the birth of another religion's Christ. If I were atheist, I would probably rather celebrate winter solstice myself. You could still give presents and talk about charity and peace, but without all of the religious frou-frou.

[Chrisada]

What religious frou-frou? You are still missing the point. I celebrate quite well without the "religious frou-frou."

Sure, but the holiday was created by the religious for the purpose of the religious frou-frou. No matter how society has secularized or commercialized it, the entire reason that Christmas exists is to celebrate Christ's birth. Christmas IS celebrating the birth of Christ. That's the definition of Christmas. If you do it all and just don't do the religious frou-frou, you're not really celebrating Christmas, even if you call it Christmas.

[GrayMatterWife]

I see HollyDay's point in that, without the religious observance, it is hard to say that you are legitimately celebrating Christmas (that is, the Feast of the Nativity--"Christ's Mass"). At least, not in any sense of its historical sense. It isn't a day of good feelings, or familial love, of togetherness. It's the observance on the Christian liturgical calendar of the birth of the Savior.

But, as a practicing liturgical Christian, I am glad that non-religious people still "observe" Christmas, even if it is not an observance that is connected to the Faith. While, on one hand, it sort of seems like a religious holiday has been bastardized, stripped of its valid definition and re-defined in secular terms, and turned into a generic, feel-good gift-centered commercialism-worshipping day, that is a pretty cynical, dim view. God loves everyone, observant or not, believing or not, and calls us to love one another. If Christmas can be celebrated outside the Faith in a way that allows people to express their love for one another, that is a good thing. The alternative would not be better--for Christmas to be forgotten by all but the faithful.