Any other atheists out there who love X-mas?

[OneCentStamp]

I know I do. :)

I love the songs - I don't even get tired of them when they're beaten into me for two months straight. I love the imagery, the memories, the nostalgia. And, perhaps because I'm not Christian, I don't even bristle at the commercialization of Christmas; losing the "true meaning" of the season is not a concern for me.

Anyone else?

[Sampiro]

I'll admit I haven't been in the Christmas spirit in years but I have been in the past. I'll say my "Humbug" moods of the past few years/decades are not in any way connected to my atheism- it's the hypocrisy and commercialism and bad associations. Personally I don't even consider Christmas a religious holiday any more than I do Halloween or Thanksgiving, so religion's not an issue.

That said, my favorite things about the season are the carols, and my favorite carols tend to be the religious ones. O Holy Night, when sung correctly [and powerfully], is one of those songs that actually makes me wish I did believe (especially the 'Fall on your knees/Christ is the Lord' verses.) ;)

[Mr. Excellent]

I'll say this for it - when I was in high school, I always loved seeing the band camped outside the cafeteria, playing songs that were absolutely secular and positively not Christmas-related at all. Nope.

Heck, I'm grinning now just remembering it. Our school knew how to start the day with style.

[fluiddruid]

I enjoy Christmas with my family. I enjoy the presents, the tree, the food, the lights, and so on. I enjoy classy Christmas carols and hymns, but not the usual crap that you hear in the mall (e.g. Jingle Bell Rock).

What I don't enjoy is the totally over-hyped nature of the holiday. I hate going to the mall and listening to the worst Christmas music on a 5-song loop, I hate the crowds, I hate the pressure to overbuy, and I am strongly suspicious of business that feels the need to get all aggressive with "Jesus is the Reason for the Season".

[Sunrazor]

I don't know that I qualify as an atheist, since I attend and am involved in the local Episcopal church, but I certainly don't buy into a literal meaning of the Nicean Creed. On the other hand, I think Richard Dawkins is a hateful jerk, so wherever that puts me, that's where I am.

Having said that: Yes, I love Christmas. I love the story of the humble birth of an innocent baby into a cynical, hateful world, and the spiritual message of hope that attends it. It's a warm, fuzzy story, and is one of the more romantic (in a Western Civilization sense) myths of human redemption. Singing "Silent Night" in the candle-lit sanctuary of a little country church, as my wife and I do on Christmas Eve every year, still brings tears to my eyes. I enjoy the emotional jolt and euphoria that comes with that -- and no drugs are abused!

Beyond that, of course, who doesn't like getting presents? Except for a few poop-heads who've posted on SDMB in recent days, that is. I love the decorations, the music, Santa Claus, the wreaths, the family gatherings, all of the traditions. It's a huge, festive celebration, and people who bitch about the stress need to just not do the things that cause all the stress.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

[jjimm]

But of course!

I have a tree, lights, a wreath on my door, and am flying to Ireland to see my wife's family for Christmas Day. We've got a Christmas CD in the stereo, and we even go to Midnight Mass if we're at my parents' house, to keep 'em happy.

From experience, Christmas over here is a way bigger deal than it is in the US. It's a gathering time, like Thanksgiving is for you guys. I and most of my colleagues are taking 10 days off over the holidays.

Love the carols too, and sometimes go to carol services just to sing. Though I do distinguish between carols (religious) and Christmas songs (secular).

[Fetchund]

Yep, I love it. Love to decorate for it, love the lights and an excuse to give my spouse presents. For me, Solstice matters emotionally more, but I'll celebrate with everybody else on Dec 25!

[Siam Sam]

I guess I'm an atheist by default, since I'm affiliated with NO religion, not even Buddhism, but I've always enjoyed the Christmas season.

[Revtim]

I'm an atheist, and maybe "love" is too strong word, but I like it a lot. Seeing family, taking some time off work, presents, all good stuff.

[Zebra]

Count me in.

I put up lights on my apartment building. I have nothing but xmas music on my ipod. I have a tree up. I even put up a nativity set. It is the set that my family always put up and it's quite nice.

Now I did add The Headless Horseman to the scene.

[scr4]

I like it. Of course it's not a religious or spiritual event for me, but it's still the main gift-giving family-get-together event of the year.

[Santo Rugger]

Those who don't celebrate Christmas are heathens!

I consider myself agnostic, but love everything about Christmas except for the songs. They get old the day before Thanksgiving. I dig the decorations, the gathering, the time off to see family, etc.

<snip>From experience, Christmas over here is a way bigger deal than it is in the US. It's a gathering time, like Thanksgiving is for you guys. I and most of my colleagues are taking 10 days off over the holidays.<snip>

Whoah, where the heck did you get the idea that we don't? Every place I've worked that wasn't a fast food place basically required us to take off from Christmas Eve to New Years Day. I get every other Friday off, so it'll be 12 days off this year. Most people only get 4 days off for Thanksgiving. Granted, all of my jobs besides fast food have been either through a university or the federal or state government, but most offices that don't sell stuff close down between the holidays.

[Annie-Xmas]

Atheist, and just check my user name. Of course, my B-day is December 25th.

[JR Brown]

Any other atheists out there who love X-mas?

I know I do. :)

I love the songs - I don't even get tired of them when they're beaten into me for two months straight. I love the imagery, the memories, the nostalgia. And, perhaps because I'm not Christian, I don't even bristle at the commercialization of Christmas; losing the "true meaning" of the season is not a concern for me.

Anyone else?

Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! Me!

Trees, presents, candy canes, hot cocoa, carols, I luurve Christmas. God, Christianity, all that stuff can go hang. The real "true meaning" of Christmas is: it's cold out there, we've got nothing much to do until the spring plowing, we need to kill off some of the cows before we run out of hay, let's have a party! Everyone can get with that :)

JRB

[olivesmarch4th]

Yep. I love... LOVE... Christmas carols. ''The Little Drummer Boy'' reduces me to tears every time. It's a very nostalgic holiday.

[Max Torque]

As far as this atheist is concerned, Christmas is a midwinter celebration of the spirit of giving. Love it.

[An Arky]

I'm 99.9% athiest, and I enjoy Christmas, especially because I have children.

Christmas is just a co-opted pagan holiday (several, actually), anyway.

[cher3]

Yes, even the churchy parts. It was just too big a part of my childhood to shake, even if I wanted to.

[Dung Beetle]

It's a very nostalgic holiday.
Yeah, I think that's it. It's beautiful too.

[drm]

There are a series of family get togethers and great food. I love Xmas and am an atheist. I can do without the 8 week preamble. It gets a bit much.

[Paladud]

I like Christmas because the carols (which I find mildly irritating) are invariably better than the pop/hip-hop that most businesses play.

[Acsenray]

Hello. My name is acsenray. I'm an atheist who loves Christmas ... the lights, the trees, the songs, the television specials. My wife and I stay up to watch the first snowfall.

Hot cocoa, mulled apple cider, egg nog. Mmmmmm.

Charlie Brown, Rankin Bass, Charles Dickens. Hot stuff!

I've been casually considering acquiring some mistletoe and holly to light up our atheistic-cum-paganistic Christmas celebration. Anyone know where I can get some?

Hey, my parents have a fireplace. Is there still such thing as a yule log?

[garygnu]

What's not to love?

Peace
Love
Family
Rest and Relaxation
Gifts!
Good (if overplayed) Music
Good Food

[Sampiro]

Atheist, and just check my user name. Of course, my B-day is December 25th.

Hmm. I always just assumed you had a curly black moustache and were madly in love with a wild gambling man. :cool:

[Ephemera]

Used to, before I stopped caring about holidays and birthdays in general. It's still my favorite of the bunch, though.

[Annie-Xmas]

Hmm. I always just assumed you had a curly black moustache and were madly in love with a wild gambling man. :cool:

That too!

[cbawlmer]

I always loved Christmas, and atheism didn't put a damper on that for me. I love the music, the trees and lights, shiny wrapping paper, the food, family gatherings, all of it. It's wintery party time, even in Houston where half our Christmases are celebrated in 75-degree weather.

[OneCentStamp]

I always loved Christmas, and atheism didn't put a damper on that for me. I love the music, the trees and lights, shiny wrapping paper, the food, family gatherings, all of it. It's wintery party time, even in Houston where half our Christmases are celebrated in 75-degree weather.I've only been in Houston for two years, and these balmy gray Christmases are turning me into Scrooge in a way that my Christian deconversion was never able to. :( :mad:

[pprgrl]

Hell, I didn't start celebrating Christmas until I became an atheist. I don't know if I love it - my family doesn't celebrate, so I'm left glomming on to my friends' celebrations. Still, I'm kind of looking forward to a few years from now, when I'm out of school, a little more settled and I've got the time and money to go all out.

[cbawlmer]

I've only been in Houston for two years, and these balmy gray Christmases are turning me into Scrooge in a way that my Christian deconversion was never able to. :( :mad:

Aww, you missed the Big Snow of 2004! I had a snow fight with my siblings in my parents' backyard on Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas morning we had to brush a bunch of snow off the car and scrape ice off the windows before we could drive to my in-laws' house. We do have cold Christmases now and then, and we get an icy one every decade or so.

[Superfluous Parentheses]

I don't particularly like the whole christmas songs, candles, trees etc, and I hate winters, but I like the christmas dinners with my family and I'm quite fond of some of the religious classical music that's part of the season. I especially like Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium and roast meat with orange chutney.

[Quasimodal]

I love santa, cookies, trees, presents, being with loved ones, time off work, food, songs, and even that fictional story about God. It's got some good plot twists (judas!) , and an admirable protagonist. They hinted at a cool sequel near the end of the story...there is even a sneak preview at the end of the book, but alas it has never come to fruition. I wonder why...

[kimera]

It's my favorite time of the year!!

[askeptic]

I know I do. :)

I love the songs - I don't even get tired of them when they're beaten into me for two months straight. I love the imagery, the memories, the nostalgia. And, perhaps because I'm not Christian, I don't even bristle at the commercialization of Christmas; losing the "true meaning" of the season is not a concern for me.

Anyone else?

Me too. My wife and I are atheists and there are more christmas lights in, on and around our house than you can shake a stick at. The tree has been up since the day after thanksgiving and the stockings too.

[MLS]

Christmas is just a co-opted pagan holiday (several, actually), anyway.
That's what I say. It's really a winter solstice celebration under the REAL "old time religion." I love it. The days are finally going to start getting longer. Whoo Hoo! Party time!

[Czarcasm]

I love Christmas! Giving presents, listening to the music(right now it's The Roches' We Three Kings), handing off the fruitcake to whatever branch of the family is unlucky enough to be next on the list, the bright lights and everything else that comes with the season.

[DaphneBlack]

Hell, here's a confession for you: I'm a Jew (though with a lot of Christian family members) who likes Christmas. I like the songs (religious more than secular, though I'm not likely to go out carolling or anything), the tree, the presents, the holiday feeling, and the fact that it reminds me of my grandmother before she got dementia (she passed away two years ago).

[NurseCarmen]

It's a wonderful life still brings a tear to my eye.

[SandyHook]

Actually I get to enjoy it more and more the older I get.

Though, as an active member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster since last week, I'm not really sure if I'm still an athiest.


And it pisses me off that you don't see Merry Christmas (or Merry ChriFSMas as we Pastafarians preferr) every where. Doesn't seem to it matters much whether there's a god or not, it's still Christman/ChriFSMas.

[NajaNivea]

I do, I do!
Man, I love Christmas... everything about it. I can't wait to see my family and trade presents and stuff myself silly and not work for ten days.

[Malacandra]

Hey, my parents have a fireplace. Is there still such thing as a yule log?
According to my favourite (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8791329&postcount=32) firewood rhyme, you want a big honkin' lump of beech.

[VanillaGorilla]

Man, am I the only one here who doesn't like christmas? (I didn't read all the responses, I confess)
I'm an atheist, but that probably has little to do with why I hate christmas.
The main part why I dislike christmas is that you can't escape from it. For over a month all you get on tv and on the radio, is santa claus, jingle bells, and other stupid christmas songs.
To make it worse, every store starts putting up christmas decorations far too early. oh, and of course, they too play that dreadful christmas music, making every shopping session a nightmare.
And go shopping you must, for all those christmas presents you simply MUST buy, even though nobody ever really want (and certainly don't need) what they get.
This is all topped off with that (extremely) nice dinner with family and relatives (most of whom you don't like), where everybody must act like christmas eve is simply THE nicest day of all, and if you don't agree, you're simply not trying hard enough.

On the bright side, I like the pickled herring.
Oh, and the Must (a type of soda).




Allright, sorry about all that, carry on.

[Shirley Ujest]

ATW*, another name for Yule log is Great Ashen Faggot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_log).









*According To Wiki

[Stauderhorse]

I LOVE Christmas. 3 weeks out of school, lovely Christmas music playing everywhere you go, cookies, eggnog, Christmas tree, getting presents for everyone, receiving your own presents, magnificent cold weather...

Yeah, I love Christmas.

[Duke of Rat]

Personally I don't even consider Christmas a religious holiday any more than I do Halloween or Thanksgiving, so religion's not an issue.



What he said.

[jackdavinci]

I would never shop at a year-round xmas store, but sure I like Christmas. I like Passover too, and other unprouncable Jewish holidays my friends invite me to and Chrismukkah, and Solstice, and whatever other holidays anyone cares to invite me to.

[tdn]

Atheist here, though (like Dawkins), I'm a cultural Christian. I watch Rudolf/Scrooge/34th Street every year, put up a pathetic excuse for a tree, the whole nine yards. I just don't include any religious iconography. I send out Christmas cards (past two years they have been homemade), drink eggnog, all that stuff.

In fact, I really only see family once per year, and it is almost always on Christmas.

[GuanoLad]

No. I would if I could somehow make it feel like the Christmases I had as a kid, but that's never going to happen.

I don't care about the religio-centric nature of Christmas, because it's virtually invisible down here anyway. But I do dislike the Winter-centric nature of it, when it is summer down here. Very few places do you see any attempt to reconcile that, and it disappoints me.

[Brainiac4]

Personally I don't even consider Christmas a religious holiday any more than I do Halloween or Thanksgiving, so religion's not an issue.
Thirded.

I love Christmas because I get to spend time with my family and give gifts. The whole "Jesus is the reason for the season" thing just baffles me. Please keep your religious nuttery out of my family winter togetherness event, mmmkay?

[Testy]

Yep. I love Christmas. Not for the religious aspects of it but it is fun to give gifts to kids and watch them unwrap them, meet old friends, stuff myself on turkey and dressing etc. I also like sitting up late on Christmas eve and watching the tree lights blink. It's a good holiday and need have nothing to do with Christianity or other religions.

Testy

[Blonde]

Agnostic here!

I love Christmas! I was raised in an extremely strict fundamentist religion with no Christmas trees, lights, etc..so now I somewhat overdo the holiday decorations now. It's all about being with family and exchanging gifts, enjoying great food. We pray for peace (as if) and revel in the spirit of giving.

[What Exit?]

Will you count an agnostic and reformed Catholic (I left the RCC at age 8, my BS meter was active early in life).

I still love Xmas and we celebrate all the commercial trimmings with Chanukah in our house. I love Xmas as a family holiday, I like to love the music and I love the idea of Peace on Earth and Goodwill to men. I love the idea of Santa and the Dear Virginia letter and "Miracle of 34th Street".

The only way I'll go neat a church is simply to admire the architecture, like visiting St. Pat's in NYC last year on the 28th of December.

Jim

[flodnak]

Yup.

There's no such thing as a bad hair day in late December. Just pop on a Santa hat and everyone thinks you're being festive! :p

Seriously, I've come to the point in my life where my questions about holidays boil down to 1) Am I invited? and 2) Will there be food? Christmas qualifies, plus seeing my kids all excited, plus giving presents, plus music, plus pretty AND tacky decorations, plus something fun to do when it's dark and the weather usually kinda sucks. Plus cookies. Did I mention cookies?

[Siam Sam]

Christmas time in Thailand is when all the bargirls wear these little Santa hats. Really. Looks quite becoming on them, too.

[calm kiwi]

Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! Me!

Trees, presents, candy canes, hot cocoa, carols, I luurve Christmas. God, Christianity, all that stuff can go hang. The real "true meaning" of Christmas is: it's cold out there, we've got nothing much to do until the spring plowing, we need to kill off some of the cows before we run out of hay, let's have a party! Everyone can get with that :)
bar
JRB

I agree about the god, christianity bit. Isn't jesus a bit of a birthday hog anyway? Surely once you turn 2000 its time to say "oh I'm too old for a party now".

But I have to disagree with the 'true meaning' of Christmas being about cold. The 'true meaning' of Christmas is SUMMER! Time for BBQs, endless school holidays and classic songs like...

Christmas at the beach
Christmas at the beach
Pack your picnic hamper we're going to have a feast
Underneath the huge Pohutukawa tree
Christmas at the beeeeeeach!

I was bought up as an atheist and continue to be one but Christmas always is about family and memories and always LOTS of fun.

This year I'm not looking forward to it so much. My Dad died in July and it just won't be the same without him.