Day 7: Christmas is so weird.
Christmas is really weird.
I mean, first, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, right? Except Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25th. But let’s just pretend he was.
But should a non-Christian celebrate Christmas? Well, I believe that there probably was a guy named Jesus walking around at some point, and he probably was a really great, enlightened, kind man. But that’s where things get fuzzy for me. Was he crucified? Probably, most likely. But did he rise again on the third day? Did God really flood the world? Did Jonah live inside a fish?
I mean, maybe all this stuff happened. But if it happened today, we would lock Noah and Jonah up in a psych ward. (Dude, the guy claims he lived in a whale. A whale? Yeah, I know, right? He’s nuts.) Maybe that is why God sent them a long time ago, when people were less likely to lock people up in psych wards. There are some religions, like the Mormons, who believe that there are still prophets just like there were back in the day. Although I’m not Mormon, that actually makes more sense to me.
The point is, I’m agnostic and to me that means, I don’t know for sure. I can’t say for sure that there is a God and a Jesus and that the Bible is anything more than a collection of folk tales. But I won’t discount the idea that it possibly could be true. But I’m not trying to talk about my religious beliefs here, I’m talking about Christmas.
Personally, if Christmas is just a celebration of the birth of Jesus, and you believe a guy named Jesus was born sometime, then you can celebrate.
But why Christmas is so weird is that we very rarely do anything at all that has to do with Jesus at all. We might go to church or bake a birthday cake for Jesus, but the Christmas tree? The lights on our house? Santa? Christmas cards? Giving each other presents? I mean, I get that the Wise Men gave presents to Jesus, and hey, it was his birthday. But how did that turn into me giving a present to my brother’s girlfriend? It’s not her birthday.
And if you are a Christian, isn’t the fact that Jesus was born enough? Why do you need an iPod too? (Yay for Jesus! Now pass that large package with the two bows on top.)
And seriously…I don’t understand why Christians have anything to do with Santa. I mean, Santa has nothing to do with Jesus. And the other day, I saw a nativity scene where Santa was kneeling down in front of the baby Jesus. I’ve read the Bible and I swear they don’t mention anything about Santa. That is just weird.
It seems as if there are two Christmas…how do you make Christmas plural?? Christmases? I have no idea..but anyway there is two of them. One is the celebration of the birth of Christ and the other is this deal with the tree and stockings and Santa. So by all means, if you aren’t Christian, I don’t see any reason why you can’t celebrate Christmas or why Christians can’t hang out at the mall with Santa.
Of course, what about people who don’t celebrate Christmas? Based on my philosophy, I don’t see why you can’t. I mean, if you are Jewish, I don’t see any problem celebrating the secular part of Christmas, although I understand why people don’t. Christmas=the birth of Jesus and as far as they are concerned, Jesus does not equal the Messiah. But then, what the heck am I doing celebrating Christmas?
I thought about all this because when I dropped Bubba off at school, I was struck by how Christmas the place was.
First, Santa was coming to school. There were Christmas trees, Santa pictures and candy canes everywhere. Then is the Christmas program, followed by Christmas break.
Of course, I live in an area where people first ask you if you are kin to so and so and then they ask you what church you go to.
But hell, I live here and I don’t go to church so isn’t it logical to assume that someone in this town is Jewish? Or Muslim? Or thinks Santa is a creepy old guy?
Christmas is so weird.
December 7th, 2007 at 10:39 am
I feel ya. I’ve asked myself most of those questions too. But I am a Christian, and now that I have a kid, I find myslef wondering if I’m messing up his head with all this “other” Christmas stuff. Like Santa. Most people may not agree with me, but I already told him about Santa…when he was 4. I told him that there really was a guy a LONG time a go named Saint Nikolas (sp?) who was a nice guy that helped poor children around the holidays, but that he lived and died a LONG time a go, and now people just remember the nice things he USED to do with the whole Santa Claus thing. I mean, I feel like I work awful hard for the money that buys him Christmas presents, and I want him to know that they are from me, and not from some magical old guy coming down the chimney. And that he gets them because I love him, not because he’s “been good or bad”, because honestly, kids are kids and they will never always be good (behavior-wise)! And I find it must be awfully confusing to teach a child from a Christian view point about Jesus and God, who I expect him to belive is real, and then about Santa, who, eventually, he would learn that he is not real. I mean, how crazy is that? Wouldn’t he begin to question whether Jesus/God is real when he finds out that all the time I’ve been lying about Santa being real? So…..that’s my soapbox, and I am kindly stepping down.:) Thanks for the listen.
December 7th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I’d like to think of myself as a Christian, but I rarely go to church or read my Bible a lot….but in my heart I believe in God and prayer and Jesus’ teachings. I try to reach out to others and do the “do unto others” and “love one another” and that kind of stuff. I’m no shining example, but I do have my brain wrapped around my belief system.
That being said, I’m sitting here cracking up to the point of almost falling out of my chair reading your post. You are too hilarious! And right!
What does really Santa and all of that have to do with anything? I mean, I know where the traditions came from, but how they got tied in with the birth of Jesus is beyond me.
It reminds me of what Jerry Seinfeld said about Easter. What does coloring eggs have to do with the resurrection of Christ? There were twelve disciples… one went bad….there always seems to be one cracked egg in a dozen eggs….is that the connection? lol. Makes me chuckle.
I myself am big in to celebrating for no good reason…and for good reason. I love birthdays…mine, (4th of July-such a cool day to be born!) my friends’, my family’s…my kids’….and Jesus’. I love any reason to celebrate.
So, right now I’m celebrating the laugh your post gave me.
Thanks for your reflections today!
Big hugs to you and your whole family! And Merry Christmas, no matter how strange it truly is!
December 7th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Btw, I’m with Holly. I told my kids the same thing about Santa. And they still LOVE Christmas.
When I was little and I found out about Santa Claus not being what I thought, the day lost a little luster for me…a little magic. But since my kids have never looked at it from a Santa slant
they’ve never known that feeling of letdown.
The only thing is this: I wish I had said something about not going around announcing this to the world. I found out that my youngest was telling all his classmates in 1st grade that Santa was an old guy who died a long time ago. Oops! It never dawned on me that I should caution him about making a public service announcement every time Santa’s name was brought up. Hindsight.
December 7th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Actually Santa has a lot to do with Christmas. You see Christ came as a gift to the world from the Father so we give each other gifts in rememberance. The man St. Nicholas was a Turkish priest/bishop/cardinal who gave gifts and money to the poor in his community in the name of Christ but attempted to keep his good deeds secret. By they way that is why Santa has the pointy hat and red and white because of the cardinal robes he wore. So the spirit of Santa is celebrated today in our more modernized Santa. Mostly, the secularized christmas is what you are talking about having no reason to truly celebrate. But as an agnostic, which just means as you said, you don’t know and you don’t want to know, you could celebrate which ever spirit of Christmas you wish. But if you wanted to know or at least had honest questions you could find that out too by going to equip.org and asking away.
Beverly
December 7th, 2007 at 10:58 am
The pagans celebrated the solstice on the 21st. When the church was trying to convert everyone into Christianity they decided that it was easier to sort of take over the pagan holiday. That’s where the date and the trees come from.
December 7th, 2007 at 11:03 am
Beverly,
I never said I didn’t want to know though. I’ve tried many many times to figure out what I believe. I was baptized..twice actually..but I can not say that I believe God exists. I can’t say for sure he doesn’t. I would love to know, but my years of study, reading the Bible, reading the Book of Mormon, attending many different types of churches, taking classes on religion and philosophy has never led me to be able to say that I believe. Not because I wouldn’t like to, because I think having something like God to believe in would be a very comforting force in my life.
December 7th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Oh, and I get that Santa came from the Saint, but I don’t think our modern version celebrates the Saint. Our modern version might of derived from it, but I don’t see anything Christ-like in the interpretation. Santa only gifts those who are “nice” and doesn’t Jesus love everyone, including the sinners? Jesus died for the sinners (which we all are) as much as the saints. A more modernized version of the Saint would be to anonymously leave baskets of food for the less fortunate or send presents to someone who needs them for their kids without taking credit. I don’t think a large man who lives in the North Pole with elves and drives a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and only gives presents to good kids is following in the footsteps of the original St. Nick OR particuarly Christian-like in his behavior either.
December 7th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I’m with you, Baggage.
Easter is even stranger. A rabbit? Bringing baskets of candy?
Weird.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I agree–Christmas has certainly evolved over the years far away from it’s original purpose: to celebrate the birth of Christ. I consider myself a Christian, but I also think that a number of Bible stories are myths that were told to teach lessons, or highly embellished stories about the truth. I think there’s a certain degree of history there, but I don’t remember reading anything about a big jolly man in a red suit. However, there was a St. Nicholas, and he did give gifts to children on Christmas, and I know that the Christians just stole all of the preset pagan holidays and converted them to Christian holidays, so I can see how it eventually all combined into one holiday.
What I don’t like is how people get so offended by how widely Christmas is celebrated in this country and the season is filled with anonymous “Winter” or “Holiday” events and decorations. What does that means? Why can’t we celebrate by having a Christmas tree up in the center of town, but also having a menorah and a kinara and so on.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Hi! … Nice, thoughtful post.
Not all Christians do the Santa thing. I was raised in a Christian home, and am raising my kids the same way. I never once believed in Santa, and my kids never have either. We make sure that they know the real reason for the season… I won’t boycot Santa, like some do. I just tell them that he’s a fun part of Christmas, but that he isn’t real.
I agree… We probably shouldn’t be doing the tree thing, or the gift thing, etc… But I still love Christmas, and will keep doing it.
P.S. We don’t do the Easter Bunny either. *lol*
December 7th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
My “beliefs” (or lack thereof) are pretty much dead-on with yours, baggage. I’m heavily agnostic, with atheistic leanings, although admitting that in mixed company seems to be akin to declaring that I sacrifice live goats and virgins in my backyard. I don’t, for the record. Traditional Christianity has never clicked for me. For me, my belief system centers on how we live our lives and treat each other. Karma, that sort of thing. That said, we do the secular Christmas a la Santa and presents whole hog. The part of that I choose to emphasize with my kids is the joy of giving. I mean, they’re kids, they’re not going to turn down a present esp. a nice shiny bow-bedecked one, but I’m very proud to say that they get really excited to help me shop for our friends and family and for the disadvantaged family we adopt each Christmas. It’s killing my 10 year old that she won’t be able to see the little 5 year old boy she bought presents for (as an “angel”) open them on Xmas day. That makes me happier than anything I’ll unwrap on the 25th.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Oh breaking my own promise never to blog about religion with americans… But I know lots of christians and lots of theologist that really don’t believe all this stuff actually happened the way it is written down.. I don;t and I am a real christian
December 7th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Christmas trees are evergreens which symbolize everlasting life (unlike other trees that look “dead” in the winter) and the lights to me were always about the star showing the way to Jesus (I don’t know if that’s the actual origins–just my take on it).
I am a Christian, I believe every last word of the Bible and yet I have no problem with Santa, Easter Bunny, etc. To me that’s just fun and games. We spend the majority of the time focused on the true reason for Christmas but still have fun with it as well. I do agree with you about true giving being helping the less fortunate anonymously. That’s even in the bible–God says that people who give “publicly” get their small reward here but those who do it quietly and without notice will receive their reward in heaven.
I hope that you can come to a place where you know what you believe. Sometimes it’s just about stepping out and saying, “This is what I believe even though I can’t prove it.” Peace with God is a wonderful thing.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Someone may have already mentioned this, but celebrating December 25th predates Christmas. Nobody really knows when Christ was born (though most authorities agree that he was in fact a real person who was actually crucified), so the church decided to make it the same time as many popular pagan holidays to get people to stop celebrating non-Christian deities.
Evidently it worked.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Okay- I have a new quote of the day
“Yay for Jesus! Now pass that large package with the two bows on top.” I snorted coffee!
We’re a Jewish family. This morning I was TRYING to shave when my little one ran up and knocked on the glass door.
“MOMMY! ARE YOU JEWISH?”
“no!”
“ARE YOU CHRISTIAN?”
“no!”
“okay!”
and she runs away!
December 7th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I skimmed the posts so forgive me if this is ditto-ing someone……
Here’s how we do it. St. Nicholas (Santa) comes on the 21st. Then Christmas is about being with family.
About the Jesus issue: He was a great guy who said, “Hey everyone! My Dad says you got it all wrong, so keep Old Test as a record of how you got it wrong and just be nice to each other for a change. Won’t that be nice?” Then they killed him. Go figure. Being Christian for us is about honoring the whole”be nice” thing. That’s it. Love, help, and friendship. Church doesn’t give that to you, you give it to you and then you live your life.
Hope that makes sense.
Merry Christmas!
December 7th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
The Christmas tree is about the whole Evergreen and ever lasting life stuff mentioned before. There’s also a spiritual symbol for the candy cane and maybe the stockign? Though I don’t know that one.
As a Christian, I do wish there was more focus on Christ and that is why we celebrate. But what’s a parent to do?
On another note, one thing I have always wondered about. I’ve heard many people who either don’t believe in Jesus or don’t know what they believe about Jesus say that perhaps he existed and was a great man but not the other part. That confuses me only because Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. So, either he was the Son of God, or He was a liar and a nutball. Right? I believe he was the Son of God and I’ve always wondered what it is that makes a person able to believe He wasn’t the son of God, but he was a “good person”. Does that make sense?
December 7th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I don’t think it is that cut and dry. Maybe he honestly believed he was the son of god so he did good things, even though he was mistaken. Just like Christians. What if we die and there is no god? That doesn’t make Christians nutballs and liars but simply…wrong.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
As a Jew I say I’m celebrating the most influential Jew ever to live.
It gets people to laugh.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Journeywoman, that cracked me up!
December 7th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Cindy-
I think you can be a “nutball” and still be a good person….
December 7th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
What I don’t get is all this c*** about a “war on Christmas.” I personally don’t like to be wished Merry Christmas, because as a Jew I don’t celebrate the holiday. “Happy Holidays” is great, because it includes me and everyone else who is celebrating some kind of winter solstice holiday, but it is not implying that Christmas and Chanukkah are somehow comparable holidays, which they are not (Ch. is a very minor holiday in Judaism). When people insist that they are under attack by my refusal to be excited when they wish me Merry Christmas, or because I’d prefer not to offend someone who really does celebrate a different holiday, I become very confused. What is so awful about respecting each other, including respecting those who don’t celebrate any holiday? And why, if you were a Christian, would you want one of your top two holidays dragged through the commercialization, stress, and unfulfilled expectation that always seem to surround this holiday? Why would you want to wish that on innocent bystanders? Leave me alone already with Merry Christmas.
December 7th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
We are all children of God. That answers that part of it for me. Wow, Baggage, did you expect so much waxing philosophy in your comments?
December 7th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
As a Biblical Studies major at university, I can empathize with a lot of your questioning. I can also say that there is so much to the Bible that needs to be understood from outside the text that it gets very confusing if you just “sit down and read it” like so many do. I believe the book is meant to be studied fairly seriously as a part of every Christian’s life.
There are lots of stories about how December 25th came to be chosen as the date of Christ’s birth, but I would like to just remind people that no matter what date of the entire year had been chosen, it would have coincided with SOMETHING that a different religion had claimed for itself. It’s kind of a flawed deduction to assume that it was done to “take over” other religions or as a conversion attempt. It’s way too complicated to hijack your blog with, so I’ll just say that and also say that we do not “do” Santa and the Easter bunny at our house with any of the family children. And our Christmases (you nailed the plural!) revolve around the miracle of Christ, acts of service and love to those who need it most, and yes, gifts and Christmas cards. The first two are religious, the last two are culture, and ain’t nothing wrong with that! LOL
December 7th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Yeah, when you put it that way, Christmas sure IS weird! I’m Unitarian (basically sort of liek agnostic except officially open to learning about any different relgions/spiritual paths and deciding on my own belief system as I go along!) I celebrate Christmas but, I have to admit, I rarely think about Jesus during it. To me it is more of a celebration of my family and of life.
(Most of the Christmas traditions we know now are patched together from the traditions of various religions and cultures, and probably made MUCH more sense in their own original context!!!!!)
December 7th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Hi - sorry, haven’t commented in FOREVER, largely because I’m currently in Thailand chasing babies (helping in Pattaya orphanage for my gap year - blog is linked above - ANYWAY) I thik about this issue a lot. As a pagan Polytheist Christmas is a rather convoluted time for me, largely because the Christians blatantly nicked Christmas from various pagan winter celebrations. All that distinctly non-Christian stuff about Christmas (the tree, the mistletoe, calling it ‘Yule’, the gift giving, burning a yule log, the feasting bit) comes from the Norse winter celebration of Yule, and the Roman celebration of Saturnalia. Easter too has huge swathes nicked from a Norse spring fertility festival - even the NAME is nicked from a norse Goddess called Eostre, whose sacred animal is the hare and who is always depicted with eggs. So I usually celebrate Yule (from Dec 20th to January 1st) and make note of Saturnalia (11th and 17th of December) and Brumalia (Ancient Greek festival on the 25th of December).
Did you know there is a Persian God called Mithras who was supposedly born in a cave under ground to a virgin Goddess on the 25th of December, who saved soldiers from the underworld and promised them a place in Paradise (usually reserved for kings and poets) when they joined his cult?
Seriously, this whole Christmas thing is nowhere near as clear cut as people think, and most of it is nothing to DO with Jesus.
So I reckon anyone should be celebrating whatever the hell they like this time of year. You want presents and food and lights and all that on the 25th of December? Go ahead! The vast majority of the world’s cultures have been doing it for a millenia already and calling it every name under the sun.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:39 am
I’m going to go drink some egg nog, listen to Bing Crosby, and turn on my twinkly little lights. And I don’t give a rat’s ass if it all makes sense or not. It’s fun.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
I didn’t read through all the comments . . . I would normally blame this on laziness, but I am on vicodin right now after having surgery yesterday, so that’s a much more convenient excuse.
but if you are really curious, I would suggest reading “the case for faith” and/or I think there’s a new one called “the case for Christmas”–by Lee Stroebel. Not trying to make you think I’m some kind of bible-wielding thug (that was the OLD me) but I would even be happy to send you one or the other.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
This discussion is interesting.
I remember being kind of upset when I finally stopped ‘kind of believing’ that Santa was fake. After all, my parents had several opportunities to tell me “Santa’s secret” and yet had to chosen to lie to me all these years! If and when I have kids, they’ll probably never believe in Santa…I’ll just tell the truth when they find out about him.
December 8th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Yeah, I get what you mean about the two Christamases, and my spouse has pointed out the same thing (or a variant of it) many times. But for me the secular/popular Christmas that probably the marjority of people celebrate is still close enough to its ostensible Christian origin that it feels wrong to me to celebrate it for myself (as opposed to celebrating as a guest or friend or family member). Easter, too. But other holidays with Christian-related origins–like Halloween– don’t bother me because that connection’s so far away now. Go figure.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Most everything we celebrate during the holidays has nothing to do with religious or secular views but have everything to do with family traditions! We celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas, but don’t attend either a church or synagogue. We blend catholic, polish, jewish, american and irish traditions and usually create new traditions too! Our tree is topped with a secular Santa Klauski (polish) and our Menorah is from Pottery Barn. In our house we don’t celebrate a birth of christ but we do honor our ancestors and family history during a magical season with lots of love, family and friends!
December 10th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
I agree with everyone here. I am religious, I go to church, I teach Sunday School to 12 kids. My daughter went to a private Christian School (terrible mistake on my part). She learned in 2nd grade from her teacher that Santa wasn’t real (Along with the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy). We didn’t really have a problem with it because we had taught her it was about the spirit of Christmas, kindness to everyone, etc. Besides, Santa only brought her a ceramic doll and something else as well as filled her stocking. All other gifts were because people love her. My sister has taken on that tradition as well (this way I don’t have to find a place to hide anything). My brother and his family, who don’t live in the same state, don’t do this, so I can foresee when they are here for Christmas (hopefully next year) it will be a problem. His kids (10.5 and 7.5) still believe in Santa. My sister’s oldest (8) does too. I guess since my child was disillusioned at such a young age it seems odd for me.
Traditionally we go to church on Christmas eve and spend time with family. My daughter knows it isn’t about the presents. It is just a fun part, not a large part of our holiday. We have two trees. One is a regular tree decorated with Santas and all that stuff. The other is a Christ-Mas tree. It has Chrismons and Jesse Tree ornaments. That tree is placed in our family room where we spend most of our time. The other is in the living room where we hardly spend any time.