Merry Atheistmas!

I was brought up in a christian home until I was old enough to make a decision when it came to faith. I personally came to the conclusion that no god is the god for me. Since then every christmas my dad makes a point of saying how I shouldn't celebrate it because I do not take part in the religion. To that remark I simply shake my head.

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Since when did christmas really have so much to do with Christ in the first place. A lot of people tend to forget that it actually originated from a pagan holiday and really has no association with the birth of Jesus. Pagans used to celebrate this date long before Jesus came along, it was a celebration which included lots of eating, drinking, and gift giving in order to pay respects to the sons of isis (goddess of nature). The exact birth of Jesus is unknown and therefor the 25th of December was simply chosen because it was already a day of celebration. In fact some of the original pagan rituals are still seen today such as the christmas tree, which was used as a pagan worship tree.

That aside, I don't even really see much of Christ in christmas anymore. The church itself is realizing how it has now become a materialistic holiday where people go into debt in order to make people happy with gifts. I can't even count the amount of "put the CHRIST back in CHRISTmas" banners I see over churches and on peoples vehicles every year now. So where did all the christians go on christmas? Almost every country takes part in celebrating some form of christmas regardless of their religious beliefs. This leads me to believe that anyone can take part in the gift giving that our consumer driven world focuses on.

I love christmas so much I make fun of myself for it, I even consider myself to be a christmas enthusiast. I collect ornaments, bake cookies, and take part in all the festivities around town. It's even a point of contention in my house when my dad considers canceling christmas because we don't celebrate what we're "supposed" to. My love for christmas is simply because of how happy everyone is and because everyone comes together in a meaningful way. We live in a world where good news is boring news, where hearing about murders and war has no effect on us anymore. So anything that brings us together simply to say I love you I'm going to take part in.

With that I wish you all a very merry christmas, holidays, aetheistmas, hanukkah, or whatever it is that brings you and your family together.

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