Why I Don't Celebrate Christmas.

An image I found online; no clue about the website reference.

Well. It's that time of year again. I'm not sure that I ever really shared the backstory of why I do not celebrate Christmas, so here it is. 

I was raised by my atheist dad. We celebrated Christmas [well, we kind of celebrated Christmas ... we usually had a tree but that was it. No other decorations around the house or yard - just a tree with a few lights and bulbs ... sharing that because I really don't remember my dad ever caring much about Christmas], but it never had anything to do with Jesus. My grandma was the one that made a big deal out of it, and she was a professing believer, so her celebrations included things about the birth of Jesus, but also had all the traditional things like Santa, elves, greenery, mistletoe, lights, decorative ceramic scenes sitting around the house, etc. Side note - Santa always creeped me out. 

I was a little bit different than most children [last year I learned I have ASD, so now of course it all makes sense]; I was incapable of pretending, so toys seemed really stupid to me. Two of my most favorite "toys" were maps and an old encyclopedia set. With the latter, I'd choose a volume at random, flip through it, and then read whatever caught my attention. 

On one particular occasion I was flipping through "C" - pictures of Christmas stuff caught my attention so I stopped to read it. I am not sure exactly how old I was right at that moment, but 7 or 8 sounds about right?? Obviously I was old enough to be reading, but I was young enough to still be home all day instead of out running the streets with my brother [I was about 9 or 10 when I started doing that]. The encyclopedia shared all sorts of traditions / rituals / festivals in history from around the world, and then showed how they were incorporated into modern Christmas celebrations. I can't remember if it said anything about any of it being "right" or "wrong" ... as far as I remember, it just stated the historical facts. [Incidentally, I looked up Easter / Sunrise Service at that time, too.]

I found it all so fascinating and it stuck with me. I'm sure I did not really understand all of it at the time, but it did plant a seed that grew and grew. That seed was that [basically] Christmas [and Easter] was a bunch of pagan holidays / celebrations / traditions all mixed together and called Christian. And this, among several other things, was what helped me stay atheist longer ... I mean, to see all of the professing Christians I knew celebrating Christmas [and Easter ... and Halloween for that matter] ... and me knowing it all came from pagan roots ... it was just one big joke to me. If you are going to believe something, then BELIEVE IT!! Don't just mix it all up with other stuff and say you believe when it's really just a matter of you picking, choosing, and creating your own thing. 

Again, that was my mindset, and that was the same mindset I had when I started reading the bible. All of the sudden I realized that IT'S ALL RIGHT THERE!!!!! It was not God's fault that his professing believers SAID they loved him but totally ignored his words. The truth is out there for all to see. He is not hiding anything, and if we love him we will seek to do what pleases him ... in all areas of our lives, not just in what suits us.

For many, Christmas is this warm and fuzzy time filled with lots of fond memories of family being together. When some discover that Christmas has pagan roots, they usually choose to ignore that because they personally do not "mean it" that way. But what does God say? I mean, seriously, how many times did he admonish and caution us in his word to NOT worship him the way the nations worshipped their gods???? We should be all about what pleases him, not what pleases us. Loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

So, anyway, at the time I was seeking truth and reading the bible and growing and learning, naturally I chose to STOP recognizing Christmas in any way. Up until that point, I was keeping Christmas in MY OWN WAY and was very sure to keep Christ OUT of it. When a professing Christian would say, "Keep Christ in Christmas!" I'd say, "He was never meant to be in it!" As an atheist (and then later as a converted atheist), I genuinely tried to tell professing Christians that Christmas was totally pagan, but of course I was usually met with lots of opposition. Some might have even known a little about the pagan roots, but would just choose tradition over truth. And when I started trying to do what was right, any celebration of Christmas was stopped because I knew it was all pagan. 

We must be all about doing what is pleasing to God, and mixing in a bunch of pagan traditions is not pleasing to him. Things like gift giving, greenery in the home [such as holly, branches of evergreens, and mistletoe], caroling, bringing in a tree and decorating it, Christmas lights ... etc. ... all pagan. I challenge you to find any of it spoken of in a positive way in the scriptures. I believe it is vitally important for us to seriously consider why we are doing what we are doing, and if our answer is something along the lines of, "Well, it does not mean that any more" or "I don't mean it in that way" or "it's not a salvation issue", then we must consider what God "really meant" when he cautioned us over and over again to NOT worship him in the same way the nations do ["really meant" said in quotes because do we really have to wonder what he "really meant" when he said things so clearly? Besides all of the times he said directly to not worship him in any way except what he commands, there are also so many accounts of people and/or groups being punished for worshipping him in a way he did not command]. 

The separation of time does not magically make pagan practices all ok. If it was not ordained by the Father in the scriptures as a way to worship and honor and love HIM, then we are totally wrong if we participate in it and say it's for Him. Simply put, we have made up our own religion and are not worshipping him in Spirit and in Truth.  

Well, there you have it. My 2 cents. :)

Here's a documentary to get you started, if you wish ... but please DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!!!!  I don't agree with the producers / channel in everything [I have NEVER believed that we have to agree with something 100% to learn from it.], but I think they did a pretty good job presenting a timeline and appreciate them having people from all opinions and whatnot. Some believers that are for it, against it, some atheists, some professors, historians, and even witches. It's just kind of all sides of the coin I guess. So, I'm not sharing it to point you to --their channel-- but just to point you to this specific thing that they produced. Make sense? I hope so. And, in my opinion, they are much too soft. I understand that they are trying to be careful, but I would have been a lot more harsh about it. But, that's also my personality ... just give it to me straight.