As a non-theist kind of family, We get really tired of hearing the battle between the "Merry Christmas" folks and the "Happy Holidays" folks. I guess religion really is all about mine being better than yours. It is not about the sentiment behind the greeting, oh no. Its about if you offend someone by not acknowledging their specific brand of religion in greeting them. Spirituality is apparently not the personal connection with the "whatever" that people like to say it is, its a badge to wear to show one's affiliation with the "better" afterlife and morality.
I prefer to spend the holiday enjoying my family, celebrating a few days to show them what treasures they are to me, and perhaps spoiling them in ways both material and traditional that would normally be considered sappy or too much. The food is fun, too.
At our house we pick and choose the aspects of the holiday to incorporate into our traditions. Its about our kids, and teaching them some of the more imaginative, romantic and magical aspects of life as it is right now, while we're living it. Its about us, enjoying the gift of children and extending ourselves to enrich their childhood memories, just as ours were before. Its about taking the globally sanctioned opportunity to show friends and others in our circle how very much we appreciate them, without embarrassing them.
I had a neighbor, since moved away, with whom I'd had several years of friendship, positive babysitting exchanges and mommy group experiences. Upon hearing that I was an atheist at some gathering or another, she stared at me, and in all seriousness she said "but you seem so nice". Apparently, who we are, how we behave and every other aspect of our being is eclipsed by whether or not we are ruled by big daddy in the sky with a paddle. This explains a lot of history with the bad behavior on the part of every religion, um, ever. It all just gets washed away or punished later. Nice.
For those who get exercised on the religion front, I would like to say: There is a large and mostly silent contingent of people who think you are mostly well-meaning cultists. We don't say anything when told about how much you love Jesus right when we're introduced, because it is impolite to make fun of crazy people, and, its just plain weird when you do that. We have manners, anyway.
I'm sure Jesus was a nice man, with some good ideas. As the song goes, he was just a man.
Merry Christmas, I hope yours was as wonderful as ours was.
I prefer to spend the holiday enjoying my family, celebrating a few days to show them what treasures they are to me, and perhaps spoiling them in ways both material and traditional that would normally be considered sappy or too much. The food is fun, too.
At our house we pick and choose the aspects of the holiday to incorporate into our traditions. Its about our kids, and teaching them some of the more imaginative, romantic and magical aspects of life as it is right now, while we're living it. Its about us, enjoying the gift of children and extending ourselves to enrich their childhood memories, just as ours were before. Its about taking the globally sanctioned opportunity to show friends and others in our circle how very much we appreciate them, without embarrassing them.
I had a neighbor, since moved away, with whom I'd had several years of friendship, positive babysitting exchanges and mommy group experiences. Upon hearing that I was an atheist at some gathering or another, she stared at me, and in all seriousness she said "but you seem so nice". Apparently, who we are, how we behave and every other aspect of our being is eclipsed by whether or not we are ruled by big daddy in the sky with a paddle. This explains a lot of history with the bad behavior on the part of every religion, um, ever. It all just gets washed away or punished later. Nice.
For those who get exercised on the religion front, I would like to say: There is a large and mostly silent contingent of people who think you are mostly well-meaning cultists. We don't say anything when told about how much you love Jesus right when we're introduced, because it is impolite to make fun of crazy people, and, its just plain weird when you do that. We have manners, anyway.
I'm sure Jesus was a nice man, with some good ideas. As the song goes, he was just a man.
Merry Christmas, I hope yours was as wonderful as ours was.
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