A Reflection on Celebrating Christmas as an Atheist

Last updated on: December 26, 2012 at 12:11 pm by Libby Anne

A Reflection on Celebrating Christmas as an Atheist 2012-12-26T12:11:41-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Do you know what I realized this year? The way I celebrate Christmas with my family today is really very little different from the way I celebrated Christmas in my family of origin growing up. Given that I grew up in a devout evangelical family but that my husband and I are not religious, this at first seems rather odd. In the end, though, I think it simply highlights just how secular Christmas is for most Americans, even those who are religious.

Growing up, Christmas meant music and cookies and decorations and presents. Some of the Christmas music we listened to was religious, but most was actually completely secular. The cookies, of course, had nothing to do with religion, and the only thing religious about our Christmas decorations, whether it be the tree or the house or lights outside, was the nativity scene that rested on a table in our hall. And the presents, well, those were wholly secular too.

The only overtly religious things we did as part of Christmas were attending Christmas Eve service at church and reading the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas morning. However, neither of these things actually happened every year, as we frequently skipped the Christmas Eve service (getting that many kids in nice clothes and out the door was often more work than it was worth) and we usually forgot to read the Christmas story Christmas morning because everyone was clamoring to open presents. So really? My family’s celebration of Christmas was very secular.

It’s true that we often talked about how important it was to remember that Christmas was Jesus’ birthday, and that that was what really mattered. But honestly? We insisted Christmas was really and truly all about Jesus the same way some people insist that really, honest, they’re going to start an exercise regimen next week. It’s almost as though we were trying to reassure ourselves. Of course, we did enjoy the Christmas story. We children enjoyed arranging the nativity scene and sometimes even put on little Christmas plays. But in the end, the Christmas season as we celebrated it was more about holiday cheer than it was about Jesus.

And now, as an atheist adult and the mother of two children, I look around myself on this day after Christmas. The same tree, lights, and ornaments. The same scented candles and smells of gingerbread. The same cookies, the same old family recipes, the same songs in the background. The same greenery, the same scattered wrapping paper. The same stockings and fire in the fireplace. The same nativity scene, which Sally arranges and rearranges. It’s a storybook story with its own action figures, and she treats it the same way she would treat an Angelina Ballerina set.

The only thing that has changed, really, between how I celebrated Christmas as a child in a devout evangelical family and how I celebrate Christmas as an atheist with a family of my own today is the absence of church and the traditional Christmas Eve program and the increased place of the Santa story.

Growing up, we didn’t “do” Santa in our family, though Santa was still somehow present – in the stores, in the books we checked out from the library, and in the music. He was present, though, sort of guiltily. Mom and dad told us that the Santa mythology served to push Jesus out of the holiday (an ironic concern given the already limited focus on Jesus alongside the presents and cookies, and winter holiday decorations). Today, then, I no longer have to feel guilty about engaging in the Santa story, whether in books, songs, or decorations.

I’m not trying to say that Christmas is a holiday that doesn’t have Christian roots (it does). Similarly, I’m not trying to say that Christmas as it is celebrated in the United States today is “multicultural” or that its roots are not soundly Western, and even Anglo Saxon (they are). I personally enjoy celebrating Christmas in part because it is a way I can feel a historical and cultural connection with my ancestors. Further, I don’t mind the religious aspects that remain – the nativity scene, say – both because of the connection with the cultural celebrations of ancestors past and because I think we should be interested in learning about various cultures, traditions, and religious. I may be an atheist, but that doesn’t mean it I don’t see history or religion as things worth studying.

But to bring this back to where I started, the main point I wanted to make here was that Christmas as I celebrated it as an evangelical child was already more focused on presents, food, and seasonal decorations than it was on Jesus’ birth, and that that, quite simply, has made continuing to celebrate Christmas as an atheist adult remarkably easy. And I think that’s something worth pointing out.

Atheism

Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism

Family

holidays

Previous Post

December 25, 2012

To Those Who Make the Magic, Here's To You!

Next Post

December 26, 2012 On Shoveling Snow and How Patriarchy Hurts Men Too

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

"______ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

Select your answer to see how you score.

Our Calling God's Plan The Universe Jesus Christ