Christless Christmas

At Slate.com, Torie Bosch has a fun and insightful essay explaining a Christmas joy without the accoutrements of religion: "No Reason for the Season: the joy of celebrating a godless Christmas." This notion, so boldly stated, has been slightly liberating. Indeed, why can't I just enjoy the fun parts of the season without the need for Christian "meaning" ruining everything. Sure, for Christians, this is the primary "reason for the season," but the rest of us can also enjoy it, guilt-free - no matter what the screaming, indignant, religionist pundits think! -

There was no one moment that crystallized my thinking or relieved me of my guilt. Rather, it was a series of observations: Most of the classic songs and movies that celebrate Christmas don't even mention God or Jesus. Santa doesn't check church attendance to decide whether he's going to give a child a present—he checks whether she's been naughty or nice. He's the perfect secular judge of moral fiber. To say that the secularists injure the Christmas spirit is much like the claim that two men getting hitched will besmirch the sanctity of marriage. Why should the way I mark Christmas bother anyone? Christians appalled by my secular holiday will no doubt argue that I am depriving myself of the greater joy that comes with accepting Jesus into your heart. But I'm not attempting to take away anyone's right to go to church or to display a Nativity scene. All I need to celebrate Christmas is a tree, stockings, baked goods, some people I love, and some gifts to give (and, yes, receive).

And, of course, there's the idea that so-called "pagan" festivals preceded the modern Christmastide, and that symbols we now associate with it (eg, the Christmas tree, yule log) also had other origins. So, I say enjoy the holiday season any way you want (I recently reread Dickens' "A Christmas Carol), and practice tolerance of the ways others celebrate. It's a time for fun and reflection...and presents!