And if you don't celebrate Christmas, do you have other winter celebrations?
My (secular) family always did/does.
My christian family, definitely does.
My eastern european Muslim friends/family... sort of does. They celebrate New Years (WITH SANTA, and a "New Years Tree", stockings, and presents). LOL, it was a shock meeting this custom about 10 years ago. Super fun, because of the decades in communism (not so fun), there is no 'date' for Santa (he usually comes anytime in December or January... so it's kind of like a surprise party... that the kids look forward to and are constantly asking their friends if Santa has come yet, in school. My good friend explained to me that Santa usually comes, "when dad gets paid".)
My pagan family celebrates Solstice / Yule / AND Christmas
lol. Another Catholic here! So... ABSOLUTELY. :) I have a lot of friends that aren't religious at all, though, but they celebrate just as a time to spend time with family and friends.
Yes! We're Catholic, and this is our family's very favorite time of the year. I love, love, love every single minute of the Christmas season! :)
Yes.
We have all sorts of different ethnicities/cultures/religions in my family from different parts of the globe presently or originally. And we and they, all celebrate Christmas... not in cookie cutter ways, but in variations.
Yes, we celebrate Christmas without the religious affiliations.
Yep.
We celebrate the solstice and the birth of Christ. I've always enjoyed the little joke the Church played...putting the celebration of Christ's birth at the same time as the celebrated return of the Sun.
Birth of the Son...
Return of the Sun...
:-)
No, I celebrate nothing during this season, but I participate and enjoy the parties and some of the energy around this time. I would actually like to go to sleep right now and wake in January, after all the hoopla. I hate that I can't enjoy music on the radio because Christmas songs rule. I don't begrudge anybody else the fun, but it means nothing to me. Also, NY is culturally the ultimate sign of the passage of time, and it only serves to remind me of the people close to me who are physically gone. It feels like a page is turning and I'm leaving them behind, and it makes me feel anxious and sad, the way it feels when you lose someone suddenly and want the world to stop for just a second so you can get your bearings. Yeah, I feel that way every NYE. On NYE, I either go to sleep or find a distraction from any countdowns.
I grew up not celebrating Christmas for religious reasons. Now, it just never caught on, so it means nothing to me, and it somewhat annoys me when I can't seem to get away from it.
As a child, we celebrated a Christmas without being Christians. Oh, I think we went to mass a few times, since my mother loves any spiritual practice and wanted us to be exposed to all times of faith and ritual. But for the most part, Christmas was about making each other happy, and about light, and warmth.
One year my dad made me a cat house for my cat, and it was a tiny replica of our house. I loved it much more than the cat. And I could fit into it. Hah. That was the Christmas I remember most.
I never believed in Santa as a literal character. But his magic was felt just as powerfully in my home as any other. I new my mother's and sister's handwriting, and was not "fooled" but when we pretended to be Santa for each other, Santa really was alive. I suppose Santa was always a symbol of giving and family, to me. I *hated* (and still hate) mall Santas. They give me the absolute creeps.
I fell out of sorts with Christmas as a teenager and decided it was all rubbish but then, you know, I had my daughter and so many of my friends didn't have a tradition during Christmas. So I began having big morning Christmas breakfast or, last year, a yule celebration. This year we'll go to other people's solstices and Yules, and we'll probably attend a service or two. But Christmas will be just us, together, in the morning. My eldest loves Christmas the most. Coming home she gasps whenever she sees the lights on other people's homes. She made up a song about Christmas decorations while driving tonight. It all made me very happy.
Not religious. Definitely celebrate Christmas. Would like to get it together enough to celebrate Solstice.
Absolutely celebrate it!! Love it!
We are Catholics, and we celebrate Christmas. We enjoy every single thing that comes with it:
a sweet excuse to give and receive (presents and charity);
attend Mass;
pray;
decorate nicely our house (indoor and outdoor);
place ornaments all together in our real pine tree;
do special things to teach our children that it is valuable and nice to help people in need;
send shiny and nice cards to loved ones, relatives and friends;
listen to seasonal music;
what we don't do it is to go out, spend lots of money or buy stuff just because....We choose carefully little by little our presents along the year, so we don't get into this frantic and crazy race for getting the gifts for the kids...we do have fun getting the stockings stuffers/fillers and cooking yummy meals and snacks....
There is always an excuse, in this house, to have fun, make our lives and others' better and jollier.....Why not?
Wow R., you certainly have a lot of traditions and customs and winter events to celebrate with your family!!! You could write a book about it all!
