On Christmas

On Christmas
Or: Why and How an Agnostic Celebrates Christmas
Written on: Christmas Eve

I do not honor Saturn or Thor. I do not celebrate the birth of Sol, Elah-Gabal, Ishtar, Mithras, or Jesus. I do not believe in Santa Clause. I am entertained by the thought of the “Winter Solstice” but it does little for me. But I do celebrate Christmas.

I recognize the significance of Christmas to the economy of the USA, but that is not why I celebrate Christmas. I do practice gift exchange, but those gifts need not come from a mall.

Nativity Scenes are unnecessary but not offensive. If the mayor wants to have one on his front porch, I don’t see why he can’t have one at the town hall. I like Christmas Trees, but if my Christmas Tree was a blade of grass or some moss growing on my window, even if my lights were just a spot of ink from a highlighter, it would still be my Christmas Tree and it would still be Christmas. Christmas Trees can be beautiful, but they are not central to Christmas.

I have joked in the past of celebrating “Capitalism Day” but in truth Christmas has little to do with capitalism. Gift exchange flies in the face of capitalism. There is no guarantee that you will receive a gift of equal economic value. If you give someone a gift and you do not receive one in return, that’s fine. Gifts are given to show appreciation to those you love or care about. (“Secret Santa” does not count as Christmas.) I do not have a problem with companies trying to make a buck off Christmas, except when their commercials are annoying.

Why celebrate Christmas? Why is it on one particular day and not another? Well, to be honest, the day doesn’t really matter. If it’s on the Winter Solstice or not doesn’t matter to me. But I like there being one day for Christmas. A tradition is something that you practice that other people also practice. A tradition survives because you respect it and you enjoy it. For me, there are six holidays: New Years, Valentine’s Day, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If New Years wasn’t so important to me for personal reasons, then Christmas would be the most important.

Christmas is the fulfillment of the essence of Thanksgiving. You can speak thanks to someone or something on Thanksgiving, but unless you can do something it doesn’t feel like you’re really giving Thanks. You give presents on Christmas to be true to how you felt (or how you wanted to feel) at Thanksgiving.

When a Christmas Tree is beautiful, it is beautiful for two reasons. The first, is because of lights—the lights glowing and pushing back the ever growing darkness of the winter months. The second is when a tree is personal, when it is shared with whatever your family may be (even if no blood is shared between you), when it is filled with the detritus of your lives. The light is the light of your mind and your memories, the bonds of kinship that you can remember. They need not be hung, but as with any physical reminder of a memory, it is more enjoyable if you can see it, and touch it.

There is no magical promise that Christmas will be beautiful. You have to make it beautiful yourself, forming the bonds with your own hands. Or, if that will not work, you can hope.

Here’s hoping to a Merry Christmas!