BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Atheist Have a Merry Atheist Christmas?

There are many Atheists out there who, like me, celebrate Christmas. Of course, my celebration has nothing to do with anything religious.

So, I am curious. Of the Atheists who read this, how many of you celebrate Christmas?

Also, I am curious to see how many non-Christians celebrate Christmas.

I am not Christian, but I was raised as one and I'm married to a Catholic, so yes, I celebrate Christmas. I am a pagan and I enjoy all the pagan roots to many of the traditional Christmas things, like the tree, the mistletoe, holly, yule log, etc., etc.

It's a family gathering celebration and it's fun. I love all the pretty decorations and the way people seem a little more friendly. And I certainly love the music. And since the birth of Christ was arbitrarily set at Dec. 25, (there are no historical records of the actual date) I just ignore the religious aspect.

My dh is an atheist, I am agnostic. He was raised Christian -- I was not, but my folks were. We have always had fun celebrating Christmas in our own secular fashion. To me, it is a celebration of love, fun, sharing, and, of course, cookies. ;-)

I'm also an Atheist and I celebrate Christmas. I love the songs and the traditions of gift giving and getting together with family. I like to decorate the house and the tree, but I have never attended church on Christmas. I've never attended a Nativity play and I try to stay away from any decorations/Christmas cards with overtly Religious overtones.

We celebrate. It's about family and friends. We get the time off work, so why not. We do the tree, gifts, even tell the various Christmas stories out there.

It is so nice to see that there are other non-Christians who embrace the holiday season. I think you have all hit on what it is about. Family. The spirit of giving. These things are so important!

And, Helen, yes, you are right about the Pagan roots.

Hello husband.. JBarry is my husband...

Yes, we celebrate. We do Thanksgiving too.

I enjoy the idea of Christmas - long time favorite Christmas movies and decorations, the coming together of family and friends, the festive feeling in the midst of deep snow and and the feeling of being closed in, here in the far north.

LOL, but when reality hits, there is mind boggling and terrible angst of shopping and cooking to do, along with spending time with family that you cannot relate to, nor would you choose to hang out with, had you not grown up with them!

I must say, that the stories of Laura Engels Wilder far exceed the ideals of the Christmas than the Capitalistic one of today can match. Back in the day, it was about a conglomerate of spiritual beliefs, celebrated with a sense of appreciation of life. Today, it is more about commercialism and gluttony. In my mind, I would love to see it retro-act - a table top tree with candles and a few hand made ornaments, just one simple gift per person, a potluck dish contribution and lots of homespun music. Then it becomes a break in the monotony of winter and shoveling snow, and a time of celebration of life.

Shay

I never get stressed about gift shopping. We have a small budget and stick to it. The kids each usually only get one thing and a few small things. This year I've already bought the gifts. I got good deals on Overstock and got each girl a camera and a refurbished ipod shuffle. Total was less than 400 dollars for all.

I will help the girls make gifts for others, or buy them, but with their own money. And we will likely adopt an angel from the angel tree.

I usually cook the Turkey and/or Ham, the stuffing, and pumpkin pie, others make everything else.

Oh and one of my daughters is a great baker, she always makes sausage balls, and also snicker doodle cookies.

I won't allow myself to get stressed out about it, if I did I wouldn't do it.

My other half and I like Christmas. It seems like people open up a little more to each other during the holidays than usual and there is an air of expectancy and joy at that time. While neither of us are Christian we sometimes attend Christmas midnight mass at the St. Paul cathedral. The building is awe inspiring and exquisite. After that we heat up a little GluhWein which is wine that is best heated and it is comparable in taste to hot spiced wine. On Christmas eve the kids would go to bed late and be up at 1 or 2 in the morning with about an hours sleep. They would come charging into our room yelling that Santa had presents under the tree for them. She and I would look at each other with bags under our eyes almost touching the floor and insist that they go back to bed till morning. They would be up again at 2:30 insisting that it was early afternoon so mom and I would relent and let them open their presents. Christmas to us is not just a day. Our families celebrated it in Europe for about three weeks starting Dec 6, the night of St. Nick through New Years day. Years ago we would go house to house during that time sampling wine and good conversation. At home we put on a little Perry Como, Bing Crosby, and Leontyne Price, one of the great singers of the 70's. I don't know how it slipped in there but we would always make a batch of English Plum Pudding with a hard sauce made with brandy and butter and light it on fire. We old krauts loved that stuff. I don't think there was a plum in the mix, just raisins and a very dark batter, quite strong but good. Lots of fun and singing old German songs and a few hymns. Times gone by but rich with memories.