A bit out of season, but I was thinking about the various nonChristians I know and quite a few of them seem to decorate for Christmas. My hardcore atheist friend is a hardcore Christmas-lover. She even buys new decorations every year so she can have a different Christmas look. My Jewish father had a Christmas tree as a kid, although they called it a “Hannukah Bush.” Myself, I loved Christmas as a kid, but have never mustered up the enthusiasm to actually put up any decorations.
I’ll occasionally put up a small tree, but that’s it. Modern Christmas has very little to do with religion for most people, and even growing up in a Christian household we spoke very little of any religious aspect of it.
I do. My wife is Catholic and that plays into it, but I basically just don’t have any problem with celebrating Christmas as secular holiday. I tend to stick at overly religious or preachy messages, but I’m not even hardcore about that. I put up Nativity scenes, for instance.
My wife is from another country, so she loves to participate in Christmas traditions. Her working place also sponsors various employee contests, like baking, decorating stockings, etc. I feel bad for her sometimes because her efforts are so childish, but I can’t really offer much help since I didn’t do it when I was young. Just about the only holiday decoration I have done was hand turkeys.
I love the lights and the tree. All my decorations are secular, except for the angels, but they’re just pretty dolls to me. I felt the same way when I was Christian.
My gf’s family are all Vietnamese Buddhists and they decorate and celebrate Christmas. It’s pretty much a secular winter-fest at this point.
I’m not sure it was ever a particularly religious holiday, even when the population was much more reliably Christian. When I read descriptions of Christmas in books written in earlier time periods, the emphasis is on the same sorts of things it is today: big meal, family gathering, neat (and largely arreligious) decorations, give the kids some gifts, etc. Christmas Mass was really the only nod to the Christian aspect.
A few years ago I got a really beautiful artificial tree and lots of ornaments and lights. I’ve been heading for the stores on Christmas day, or the next day, to get ornaments on sale. And one of my kittehs absconded with a little teddy bear ornament. I think she thinks it’s her kitten.
As Jews, we naturally celebrate Christmas by ritually going out for Chinese.
Just kidding. It is true that, with an extra day off but no holiday to fill it with, Jews tend to pass the time by eating out. And I think I actually was in a Chinese restuarant this past Xmas. But it’s a coincidence, I tell you. A coincidence!
I love Christmas decorations. I also see it as a secular holiday. I don’t avoid the overtly Christian stuff, but I do gravitate more towards the stars (pentacles) and have multiple angels in the colors of the elemental correspondences. So yeah, it’s Christmas stuff, but it’s neopaganey, too.
If our daughter is home for Xmas, we generally tend to have a decorated tree up. Otherwise, we might put up some decorations, but that’s it. Bill is agnostic and I’m atheist. I’d sort of like to have a tree up every year, but I’m not willing to do all the decorating work, so it doesn’t happen. We do exchange gifts every year, and I have some stockings that I put up every year.
No, unless my wife decides she wants to deal with it which she does every few years but it has never extended beyond some lights and maybe stockings. I’ve never had a Christmas tree in my home.
Don’t really see the point since I’m not into either the religious message of Christmas or the consumerist message of Christmas. I do enjoy using it as an excuse to visit family every few years (most years we use it as an excuse to travel) but that’s always us going to them and never the other way around so there isn’t even the reason of doing it to make others feel comfortable.
I grew up going to church on Sundays and doing the Christmas plays there and all, but still never really associated Christmas with…Christ. I know, it sounds weird, but…Christ’s birth is one thing. Santa Claus is another. And the twain ain’t ever going to meet at a sale.
So for me, Christmas is Santa, so of course I decorate, BECAUSE I’m not religious. The question actually seems odd to me.
Most of the time, I’m not home for Christmas, but I do decorate and send cards (although they’re secular and/or winter cards). I host a gathering for friends and family each year after my town’s Christmas parade, hence the decorations. And I love driving around to see the lights. Sometimes, I’ll even go to midnight mass if I’m with family who still goes.
Yes, because most (if not all) of my “Christmas” decorations are pagan-y (stars, lights/candles, holly, tree [but with family heirloom ornaments that connect me to my roots], etc.).
I will play lots of music, though, because I believe music transcends religion. I think that Handel’s “Messiah” is some of the most beautiful, heart-wrenching, sublime expressions of existence ever.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I just wanted to say that, despite some people thinking you as being inflexible and bitter, I just felt I should point out that the attitude you display in this post is exactly what’s necessary for a healthy marriage, and overall it’s the very meaning of rational compromise. I hope this post isn’t a hijack, but I feel you’ve been given a bad rap lately, and maybe if I point out this gem that it might eventually serve as a a light in the dark. Of course you probably don’t care, and maybe it will all hopelessly backfire in my face, but hey… I like you despite it all
