# Non-Christians: What is your relationship to Christmas? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513 "2009-12-08T21:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/41 "2009-12-09T17:41:21Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Really? Is that a commonly held belief? I knew you could be a non-practicing Jew, but I didn’t know you could be “Jewish” without believing at least nominally in Judaism. Yes, as far as I know. Jewish is both a race and a religion. I think it’s the only combination like that out there. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/42 "2009-12-09T18:15:03Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Really? Is that a commonly held belief? I knew you could be a non-practicing Jew, but I didn’t know you could be “Jewish” without believing at least nominally in Judaism. To many/most Jews, if your mother was Jewish, you are Jewish. It doesn’t matter if you think of yourself as Jewish, believe in any of the precepts of Judaism, or practice any of the rituals. People of course are free to think of themselves as they like, but IMO the majority of the people that consider themselves Jewish will also think of these non-believers as Jewish. I’m an atheist who considers himself Jewish in many ways. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/43 "2009-12-09T18:19:37Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > Interestingly, most Jews these days who “marry out” marry Roman Catholics. To me, that seems to say something about the compatibility of the two religious lifestyles. I think that says more about how large Jewish communities tend to be in the same areas as large Roman Catholic communities. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/44 "2009-12-09T19:03:19Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Can someone really be equally Catholic and Jewish at the same time? It seems like he would have to pick one or the other at some point, but if you really believe the Catholic doctrine how can you also believe the Jewish doctrine? They don’t seem compatible with each other. This contradiction would tear me apart, but apparently others are okay with not worrying about any contradictions. Actually, I turned out Pagan. Now I am neither Catholic nor Jewish in the religious sense. But I _still_ have ties to both religions and both communities, don’t I? It’s not a matter of religion but of culture. A half-and-half grows up with a familiarity with _two_ cultures, not one, whether that person picks one or the other or neither. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/45 "2009-12-09T19:07:15Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Really? Is that a commonly held belief? I knew you could be a non-practicing Jew, but I didn’t know you could be “Jewish” without believing at least nominally in Judaism. From time to time in my life certain… shall we say… BIGOTED SCUMBAGS have made it VERY clear to me that I am “tainted” with Jewishness and always will be no matter what I do or say or believe, and any children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren I might have had would like be Jewish no matter who I married or what they believed or did. After all, the Nazis regarded people with “Jewish blood” as Jewish even if their family were practicing Christians several generations past the conversion of an ancestor. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/46 "2009-12-09T19:17:53Z")
Raised Jewish, partly in Israel but always in a very secular environment. Atheist since the age of 9 or 10. I have a vague memory of a Christmas tree in our house in England when I was little, before we moved to Israel, but my parents deny it. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part. Now I am married to a lapsed Catholic and living in a Catholic country and we have a 9-year old son. I make some lame token gestures towards celebrating Hanuka, mainly to make the point that there is more than one culture at play in his heritage. I go along with Christmas celebrations but don’t contribute actively - if my husband and son want decorations it is up to them, which means that it never happens. ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/47 "2009-12-09T20:56:51Z")
Raised Reform Jewish here. We celebrated Hanukkah, but not in any intense kind of way. I think I knew more about Hanukkah than my parents did as a result of going to Hebrew school. One time we had a tiny Christmas tree, I suppose just for the fun of it, but I’m pretty sure we still did eight days of gifts. I’ve always really liked the aesthetic side of Christmas and the ‘holiday spirit’ (even if it is mostly a commercialized sham), but still feel marginalized when someone assumes I celebrate the holiday. On another note, I was very interested to find when I lived in Northern India that people celebrated commercial Christmas there even though almost everyone there is Hindu or Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/48 "2009-12-09T22:33:05Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Really? Is that a commonly held belief? I knew you could be a non-practicing Jew, but I didn’t know you could be “Jewish” without believing at least nominally in Judaism. It’s not a “commonly held belief” it’s Jewish law. Born a Jew, die a Jew. You could be practicing any set of religious beliefs you care to, hell you could be the Pope, and if you mother is Jewish, you are Jewish too. Jews will consider you, at most, “non practicing,” definitely not “not Jewish.” Essentially, belief and/or faith is not a required part of being even a devoutly practicing Jew. Judaism is extremely legalistic; it requires certain actions and tasks, not certain thoughts or ideas. Belief or faith as a cornerstone of religious practice is a Christian idea (some might say, THE Christian idea). ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/49 "2009-12-09T23:00:55Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > -When you were a child, did you celebrate Christmas in any way? > > -Did you believe in Santa, or were you told that he was a myth that other kids believe? > > -As an adult, do you celebrate in any way? > > -If you have kids, what do you tell them? -We still do Christmas at my parents/grandparents. And I’m in my mid-twenties and looking forwards to going home again. My uncles might be visiting! I always loved it when they visited for the holidays. But now one of them has a 1.5 year old girl! So maybe if they come we’ll get to do Christmas the old way again! So uh. Yes. We do celebrate Christmas. -I was taught about Santa, and I believed in him. Same for my little sister who believed for quite a while. Santa’s not Christian is what I was always taught. He was a Freedom of Religion sorta guy, and more just about sharing and caring and presents. -Adults, I guess see above. I’ll get to go home, and hang up stockings, my little sister (she’s applying to college this year) has probably already put up the tree and decorated it (Plastic of course- traditionalists we are :D). But yeah, there will be Stockings, and presents, and of course my sister will do her annual Christmas Eve baking where she’ll basically bake from noon to around 10pm or so, and then at night, we’ll probably watch “A Christmas Story” on the 24 hour TNT marathon (especially if my Uncles are there), and we’ll leave Santa some of the various cookies and some milk. My parents will probably not do any of this- they tend to watch their TV shows separately from the kids and they don’t really do any of the baking or X-Mas stuff. But my dad will probably at some random hour (he normally wakes up at 5am) will probably go down and put Santa’s gifts to everyone down there, and also I’ll probably go downstairs around 2 or 3am after everyone else goes to bed, and go down and eat some of the cookies (and if my uncle’s there we will BOTH pick and choose and eat the cookies- usually his idea because he can’t wait that long)- but only a few bites in each one, though I like milk so i’ll drink all of that, and then I’ll go to bed to be awakened the next day by my sister at some ungodly hour (like 11am :D) so the whole family can get together and open up gifts and talk and laugh and then my uncles or my sister will join in and all make a big Christmas Brunch for everyone to eat around 1pm or so… And then we’ll go back to playing with our gifts/toys, while my parents will read the paper to look for the After Holiday Sales. Man, now I can’t wait for my exams to be over so i can go home! 🙂 Oh, and my family members are all Hindu. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/50 "2009-12-10T03:15:13Z")
I was raised as a reform jew. 1. Yes, we did celebrate Christmas, despite my parents’ insistence that we did not do so. Mom’s family is Catholic. Every year, we would drive 500 miles shortly before Christmas. Generally we would go to mass on Christmas eve. There was a Christmas tree. We opened gifts wrapped sitting around the Christmas tree on Christmas day. Despite all this, my parents insisted that, being Jewish, we did not celebrate Christmas. :rolleyes: 2. I don’t recall my parents ever really addressing it; I think they assumed that it was a harmless little story I may or may not pick up on. I did not pick up on it. 3. Regrettably, I am going to the Big Family Shindig this year. I didn’t last year, for the first time, and it was lovely. I pretty much loathe the month of December because you cannot escape Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/51 "2009-12-10T05:10:39Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > hilarious that the picture of your “non-denominational tree” is saved as a file titled “xmas\_tree”. what is a non-denominational tree and how is it distinguished from a Catholic, Baptist or Methodist tree? Uses contraception, can read, has sex with the lights on? My childhood best friend was Roman Catholic. Their tree had little Jesus figures and saints. My cousin’s “Hanukkah bush” has stars of David, dreidels and (fake) candles. Compared to those trees, mine is “non-denominational”; the most religious ornaments are a couple of Santa Clauses. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/52 "2009-12-10T06:04:53Z")
-When you were a child, did you celebrate Christmas in any way? Yes. Mom and Dad didn’t go to any particular church and didn’t pound the usual dogma in my face. Hell, they both encouraged me to learn about how other countries celebrated their December festivals. -Did you believe in Santa, or were you told that he was a myth that other kids believe? Oh yes, I believed in Santa like nothing else. -As an adult, do you celebrate in any way? As a Wiccan married to a sort of very liberal, open minded Christian, we start celebrating the season on December 1 and go right up to the Orthodox Xmas in January. I send cards out and the like, but since both sets of parents are gone, we really don’t go whole hog. Xmas Eve/Day is more of a laid back, cuddle in bed and nap type of thing. -If you have kids, what do you tell them? We don’t and I’m not sure what I’d tell them. I think it would depend on their age, intelligence and maturity. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513/53 "2009-12-10T06:46:08Z")
I have a great big French Catholic family of varying degrees of devotion. Christmas is a feast, it’s a blast. Those who would go to mass do, and it’s no hardship to admire the silverware for the 30 seconds of Grace. My immediate family isn’t religious, so Christmas when I was a kid was yer basic Rudolph and Frosty affair. But it was fun and festive and something worth missing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-what-is-your-relationship-to-christmas/520513.md?page=2)