Question for NonChristians: Do you Celebrate Xmas?

I'm atheist, and I don't celebrate the religious part (which should be the MAIN part of Christmas). I don't put up decorations, which I do like, but I work nearly ALL the time and just don't have the time or energy to put up lights.

I'm despise with every fiber of my being the greedfest of the holiday, and the only gift I give is for my mother (who deserves presents just because she's my mom and she's a dolly).

It's weird to me that people celebrate religious holidays when they don't believe in them.

CheyElizabeth said:

It's weird to me that people celebrate religious holidays when they don't believe in them.

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Well, the holiday is real. I believe in the calendar. The festivities are real.
I believe in festivities.

The fun and whacky aesthetics are real. I believe in that.

In fact I believe in everything except a loving God who wants to beat me up after I'm dead.

Diana Hignutt said:

Really? Well people have been celebrating the winter solstice and Yule-tide long before Christ was born.

It's still a great story and a magickal time of year.

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True, but is it still considered celebrating "christmas" or celebrating the winter solstice?

Maxx said:

In fact I believe in everything except a loving God who wants to beat me up after I'm dead.

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Yeah, I wouldn't believe in that either.

Ol' Boy and I celebrate the events, symbols, and traditions that the Christians adopted into their religion to draw the older groups into their fold. We give gifts to the very young and the very old, and ask friends and family to spend the money they'd spend on us on their own family, or do something - anything - for a charity of their choice, whether it's a donation of time or money, to help someone more needy. We enjoy the 'fun' of the holiday - the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, the lights and the sharing of food and friendship.

CheyElizabeth said:

It's weird to me that people celebrate religious holidays when they don't believe in them.

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Well, the Christians stole the date from the Pagans and installed their own trappings of a baby in a manger and three wise men and all that. Why shouldn't we atheists steal it and add our own trappings of Father Christmas, Coke Trucks and Slade?

Yes, I do celebrate Christmas, but for me it's more about family and eating too much.
There was a thread about this last year in the atheism forum, in which I mentioned the excellent White Wine in the Sun by Tim Minchin. That song sums up very well how I feel about Christmas.

I'm a Christian and I don't celebrate Christmas because it has nothing to do with Jesus.

I celebrate the solstice - but the main celebrations tend to be Christmas eve/day, mainly cos that's when everyone else is celebrating and you get free time off work so....

I'm a Christian and I don't celebrate Christmas either. Mainly because I'm too tight to buy presents, and so horrible I hate seeing people enjoying themselves.

I tell you, if the ghost of Christmas Future comes into my dreams tonight, Tiny Tim's going into the oven tomorrow!

Humbug indeed.

Meh, not sure what I am. I was raised Catholic but I don't attend church and don't agree with a great deal of the teachings. I go back and forth as to whether I call myself a non-believer or not, but I do celebrate Christmas. My family still does, too. We decorate trees, exchange gifts, put up lights, eat, drink, all in good fun. Some family members still attend mass. I don't. No body cares, we just have a lovely time.

smlgr8 said:

Some family members still attend mass. I don't. No body cares, we just have a lovely time.

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Don't tell anyone, but I actually like the midnight masses they do at Christmas...very beautiful, and ofc all the candles fit right into my thing

IdiotsRUs said:

Don't tell anyone, but I actually like the midnight masses they do at Christmas...very beautiful, and ofc all the candles fit right into my thing

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Right into your... what?

I've either got a mucky mind or that post should be filed under Too Much Information.

Regards

Whacko

ETA - I've never, ever been to Midnight Mass. Maybe this year.

whacko said:

Right into your... what?

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Spiritual wassname given the time of year (Solstice being 'please let the sun come back' kind of thing - we have a candlelit supper on Christmas Eve.It's out main celebration apart from extended family - most of whom are not our religion)

Perv

I celebrate the holiday because I love nice traditions. For us it's all about family and winter and a little tiny bit of santa and magic. I also have nativity sets. I like Jesus better than anything else in the Bible, and my kids have learned about the Christian Christmas story as well as Hanukkah.

IdiotsRUs said:

Perv

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In my defence, and at the risk of sounding like I resemble that remark, it just put me in mind of a joke.

IdiotsRUs said:

Don't tell anyone, but I actually like the midnight masses they do at Christmas...very beautiful, and ofc all the candles fit right into my thing

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Oddly enough I completely get that. Back in the old days when I did attend mass as a youth, I used to love the midnight one myself. Now the thought of staying up that late...shudder...and for church...er...more shuddering.

Shudder must be a new euphemism for sober!

CheyElizabeth said:

It's weird to me that people celebrate religious holidays when they don't believe in them.

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I consider co-opting Christmas for my own purposes to be entirely within the historical context of the holiday.

I'm an atheist and I love Christmas. I decorate, I watch Christmas movies, I sing Christmas songs, and I even prefer those religious in tone. Santa or Jesus, in my eyes both are fictional characters, and Jesus' songs are prettier.

As far as celebrating a religious holiday...my grandparents' are as Christian as they come, but they don't view Christmas as a religious holiday because "we can't know when Jesus was born." For us, it's about love, giving, thankfulness, and togetherness. Those are universal values, not religious ones.

RosalieStanton said:

"we can't know when Jesus was born."

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Yes we can. It was when shepherds washed their socks at night. Which, historically, was always the same time, every year. Whether they needed washed or not.

Or have I been singing the wrong words?

Their socks? I thought it was their beards.