That being said, I usually, when on my own, just get a nice pine bough, set on the table, put a candle in the center and a few favourite ornaments, that my son made and the "nothing says Christmas more than a handmade red rooster made in China," ornament nestled in the bough.  I still give to the three sorts of charities as well.  And I do enjoy what I think of as "real," Christmas music, like early music and some of the Loreena McKennit winter CD's and Carol Tatum's "Sanctus," recording.  I really dislike the commercial greed that has taken over and pretty much refuse to partake in it now that I am on my own again, although my late husband loved to give gifts, have a tree and a feast, and we did it for his sake when he was here.  

For New Year's I still put out a new penny for everyone in my immediate family, closest friends and pets for the Faeries to bless overnight, per my grandmother's tradition.  

 

At least I'll be amongst my friends here on Prog Archives for the first time this Christmas, so I won't be completely alone.

During the brief period when I dabbled in (well, let's be honest, played at) the wiccan religion I can to appreciate just how much of the chrisitian christmas was of pagan origin. Christians appropriated Yule as the major christian celebration because it was a widespread festival across Europe. Remove all the pagan trappings from the christian holiday and all you're left with is a nativity play and a few hours of singing carols in a cold and draughty church ~ no one is going to supplant a mighty winter feast with that. The bit we really like, the bit we actually look forward to and the bit we revel in, is the huge pagan bit.

Therefore it bemuses me when christian complain about the holidays lacking the true meaning of christmas and throw up their arms in horror at any attempts to de-christianise the yuletide celebrations that were never theirs in the first place.

So, all that aside, how do I view christmas? (let's call a spade a spade - irrespective of your religious beliefs you are allowed to call it christmas, or saturnalia, or yule, or lohri, or koliada without causing offence or secretly breaking some atheistic code) ... exactly the same way as every one else - overfed and mostly pickled as a parrot. Just without the shallow 'christian' sentiments that evaporate long before the last of the christmas dinner is scraped into the recycling bin. Probably.

It's demanding and stressful. The days are full with no time to relax. I get through it by listening to this. We made this (Rogers Yueltide Review) in my basement in the late 70's. I'm playing keys. Some songs were played on Dr. Demento's Christmas show. 

There are 15 more if anyone is interested.

I wasn't brought up with religion and never acquired it. 

From the perspective of present day Christmas, I like the days off, I like the excuse of having extended family around (long enough so I can appreciate them, but not long enough so that I recall why I don't see them the rest of the year), and I like to eat. Well-considered presents are also welcomed.

 

I haven't seen you for awhile on the forums so it's good to see you're still around.

A bog isn't just for christmas.

Well, as an atheist living in a (formerly, I hope) christian world, I view the end of year holidays vacations as an unwanted bonus, but I do and will take advantage of the days off, if only cos I deserve them. After all, there is no way religious/credulous people should get days off for their pagan beliefs; while more intelligent atheists wouldn't get those days, just for being smarter.

This is valid for Easter-related vacation days, as well.

BTW, if I had religious grand parents, my atheist parents did organize the X-mas crap when we were kids, mainly not to antagonize their own parents uselessly.

 

Soooooo, how do i deal with the "spirit", you ask??

 

Well from the Helloween days the "feast season" (as called in continental Europe) is filled with pagan and non-pagan commercial events, starting the 31st of October.

From some weird theory, we also get the kids on the streets to plea for candy. Some stupid intelligentsia justified importing this event by finding a link to keltic beliefs.

Of course, the next day, there is the "all-saints" day on 01/11 , then on the 2nd is the day of the dead (which is maybe less religious than the all-saints bullcrap).

On Nov 11th, most of us get the Armistice day (end of WW1), but like all the vacations days, everyone is busy trying to find open stores to spend their money. A bit newer, is the black friday (usually lenghtened to the whole w-e) ignominous bullcrap that comes after the supposedly pure "Thanksgiving" idiocy - at least here, we didn't shamelessly adopt that TG crap.

Onwards to Dec 6th, is St Nicky day (this is the ancestor of santa claus), a firmly rooted (in France, Belgium Southern Holland and Western Germany) tradition where kids get their toys before adults gets theirs later in the month. Of course X-mas and EOY festivities are probably the most insufferable of them all

 

I hate dumb & mindless consumerism, soooo from october onwards, I tend to avoid greater surface stores and the crap they sell - some starty selling X-mas decorations as early as end of September.  

As far as medias are concerned, I shun totally TV (and its stupid x-mas programmations) in December, but then again, I'm not a regular/avid TV watcher. Even news programme, I don't watch it live - using podcasts so I can skip the x-mas bullcrap that abound in the news bulletins.

 

Most of these vacations  (the ones mentioned above) are spent resting, gardening or repairing stuff around the house and spending evening with the buddies & friends, but making sure this has nothing to do with pagan feasts.

I do use the 5 or 6 days between the 25 and 1st  to visit close family, though.

Without boring everyone with the details, this year my enthusiasm for cooking waned a lot so I'm hoping that with three whole glorious weeks off work I'll rekindle my love of cooking and baking by preparing a selection of delicious meals for my wife and daughter. 

While not quite chestnuts roasting around an open fire, I've already discovered that walnuts boiled for 5 minutes in sugar syrup and then deep fried are exceptionally good as are cashews roasted in Masala spices.

Now you mention - try boiling chestnuts with fennel seeds, simply delicious (don't forget to first cut the shell more or less half way thru, like you would do for roasting).

Sounds good - I do love the flavour of fennel. 

Imagine if you had to work in retail at this time of year.  I did, for 3 seasons, at a pre-Amazon Whole Foods.  Even worse than Christmas was the time that a really cheesy version of "Danny Boy," got stuck on repeat for about an hour on St Patrick's Day.  

Ah, but which one are you ?

I think the reason Scrooge had such high ceilings was to accommodate the Spirit of Christmas Present's torch.   Luckily Victorian houses had ridiculously high ceilings.

Oh, for peat's sake.

Nice to see the old christian traditions are being kept alive.

There was a masterpiece plasticine cartoon dedicated to it, with nice music, and funny absurdism galore (Eng subs): 

There was a melodrama with slight bits of comedy, titled "Irony Of Fate, Or Enjoy Your Bath!", also exactly about it all: 

In the USSR, thus, the Christmas season rather started circa Dec 30... 

Concerning religions. Sure, the overwhelming majority of the Soviet people... at least, had Orthodox Christian forefathers, but many if not most were also baptised as Orthodox Christians (often, secretly, like e.g., Putin was baptised secretly from his father). Some Soviet people celebrated Christmas, at home, not quite exposing their celebration in public, you know. So, gradually, the once public state-wide state-wise Orthodox Christmas feast in the times of monarchist Russia (Middle Ages to 1917, that is) became a purely religious one for purely fearlessly religious believers. Russian Orthodox Church along with several others retained the Julian calendar. They retained it in the Soviet times and still do. So, they celebrated Christmas on December 25 by Julian calendar, which corresponds to January 7. 

All in all, everything usually attributed to Christmas in the West (the same was in pre-1917 Russia) including family gathering, gifts, fir-trees, and so on, shifted to New Year's night in the Soviet and modern day Russia. Christmas is still a religious holiday here, thus. 

Speaking of the main feasts for people like me, it must be Orthodox Christian Easter and Victory Day (May 9). Both happen in spring, usually not far away from each other in terms of time interval. 

Certainly, the Soviet people knew no Thanksgiving Day, Halloween, whatever else of the kind. 

So the religious aspect of the holidays never really comes up much.

That's a bit of a sad story to say the least . It's easy to forget that many people don't have a family and this can be for a number of reasons. It's good though that you have someone special to be with . I know what you mean about spending time with family that you don't really know. Occasionally my Brother In Law will have his parents over on Christmas day and that can be a bit awkward even though they are nice.

On a personal level , as a confirmed batchelor of many years with no girlfriend (or kids) , I'm very lucky that I have such a nice Sister and can always be with her and her family around this time . She has 3 grown up children and we all enjoy each others company. Also happily our parents are still alive and together. Christmas day is a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it. As far as the religious aspect of it I couldn't give two hoots. I'm just glad I can get away from the stress and pressure of work and have a bit of fun with the family. 

I've never even remotely understood the idea that we are somehow obligated to others solely on account of us being related to them. Yes, I have family and relatives that I do love or at the very least, am very fond of but as for the vast remainder of my kin, I would gladly never see them again in perpetuity. We love people for the feelings they are able to produce in ourselves, and no other reason is necessary.

“They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I shall break the rules and they will punish me. I must play their game, of not seeing I see the game”
― R.D. Laing

Psychedelic Paul wrote: ^^ I don't have any surviving family or a partner either, so Christmas means nothing to me any more. I just treat it like any other day, alone at home again, naturally, to paraphrase Gilbert O' Sullivan. The good members of Prog Archives are my family now, which is why I'm here each and every day and I'm planning on sticking around for a long time to come.

 

I've always been a 'loner' and quite happy to spend any day other than Christmas Day on my own. At least now with decent streaming services you don't have to put up with the crap TV programmes and endless repeats of The Great Escape 

I don't even have a TV license any more. I stopped watching TV about nine years ago when I first went online. I get all of my entertainment now from the Internet and from listening to CD's and watching DVD's. By the way, I just bought The Great Escape recently on DVD and watched it again for the umpteenth time.

Not sure what category I fall into these days. Never had much use for organized religion but was raised Roman Catholic. I hated going to church every Sunday. Ironically, I enjoyed Christmas Mass, probably because of the music. I love Christmas music. O Holy Night is one of my favorites. 

I had an experience once as a teenager that led me to believe there might be some sort of higher power but I have trouble believing that it's what Catholicism wants me to believe that it is. 

Christmas to me is a time for family. Family is very important to me. 

If you aren't into the 'reason for the season', and I suspect most are not.....then enjoy the great holiday food, drink, and good cheer.

To me this sounds pretty sad (PA is ur family??), you should go out and experience real people (good or bad) does not matter. I am sure its not true but you make it sound like you are hermit.......When is the last time you got a haircut?? 

Christmas time can also mean a time to get together with other people and just talk and laugh....it's not 100% about Jesus and Santa Claus.

Go out and have some fun I say!! 

^ I'd like to think it was a joke in poor taste, as the Japanese seem pretty savvy about culture.   Friggin' hilarious though, especially the baby Jesus Claus... or maybe Kris Christ.

I did giggle pretty good......honestly laughed pretty hard.

Did it look like this?

I had to Google "Santa Claus on a cross" and this is one of the images that came up.

 

Happy Holidays everyone!  Celebrate it the way that makes the most sense to your own bad self.

 

Only 3 seasons?   Wow aren't you lucky.  I just got to the point that it was all just background noise.

 

 

all versions of Danny Boy are cheesy  

I agree with you on the Japanese and that it was deliberately done.

I once wrote a piece entirely in puns about my dog, Beau, who reigned on the island of Houndi.  The absolute pinnacle of the piece was describing the dogs' Christmas, where they made obeisance to the Little Baby Fleasus.  

  

Like a good few day of from the job, and the traditional meals and stuff. Gave up on the presents and all that commercial bull many years ago, so basically only the good stuff left.

 

At least I had my two new Van Der Graaf Generator CD's to keep me company, which I'd been saving till Christmas.

I went through a Christian phase in late teens but I got better.   Now I am officially an agnostic.

Merry Christmas is a much more direct and accurate saying for the day that lands on Dec 25th, you know what is meant by it. What does Happy Holidays mean? Across the pond from me the word "holiday" is understood as time away from work, or in the US a "vacation". We don't say "happy vacation".......  There is wayyyyy too much PC in the world, people need to relax.

I agree so much, it truly is the thought that counts.