Last week, we posted about a Babble article called "The Grinch" by a woman who's decided not to let her child believe in Santa. Your feedback was fascinating, and some of you sweetly asked about our plans for the holidays. Before we say, we'd like to share another Babble story with you, one that we ran as the final installment of the Christmas issue. This one is called "'Tis the Season: Why my cynical, atheist household is celebrating Christmas." Kim Brooks writes about why she decided once she had a baby to give him Christmas even though her family is made up of a bunch of cynical atheists.
Spoiler alert: It's not exactly how our fellow newsblogger Dinesh describes atheist Christmas ("bitter guys making sophomoric jokes and staggering out of the room inebriated"). Kim writes:
I know there are some who will take offense at this notion, accusing me of falling prey to all the holiday marketing and thinly-veiled materialism, for not sticking to my a-religious guns. But it seems to me that children in this country, children even more than adults, cannot escape Christmas; either they take part in it, or they're outside of it, looking in. Given that dichotomy, I don't see why my son should have to be excluded from what, for many, has become a secular holiday. Perhaps I'm a sucker for schmaltz, but I love imagining my infant son in a festive little sweater, bopping his bald head to Christmas songs and squealing with delight at the glittering lights and grown-ups silly on eggnog. I love the idea of a big old dysfunctional family dinner around the tinsel-trimmed tree, special holiday treats made with four types of sugar, everyone sipping hot cider while presents almost too beautiful to open are passed out one by one. I love the idea of, just once a year, spending money I don't have on things people I hardly know probably don't need. I love the over-the-top extravagance of it all.
For our part, we have a lovely tree and have draped tinsel on pretty much every available surface. Tonight we're playing Santa to our one-year-old (shhhh . . . he's getting a t-r-i-c-y-c-l-e). We spent the day watching the "Battle of the Nutcrackers" on Ovation while our son danced around in front of the TV copying the toy soldiers. We baked two pumpkin pies.
We're also going to church tomorrow morning, and we're going to try for the first time in years not to bawl through the whole carols and lessons service (although we expect to lose it just like we always do, one verse into "Once in Royal David's City").
We appreciate Christmas as a Christian holiday, but also as the kind of holiday Kim is celebrating: a secular American holiday, one in which everyone, regardless of religion or cynicism, can come together to give the kids a day of wonder.
We wish everyone both kinds of Merry Christmas!
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 4)
1. to poster "shemaiyah"...i would like to contact you, please.
heather at 10:54AM on Feb 12th 2008
2. I was raised in a christian home, but I never really beleived in god. To me christmas is a non religious holiday that is about being with friends and family, and giving and receiving gifts. I see nothing wrong with celebrating even if you are not a part of the christian faith. it is just a fun time of year.
Rah at 2:50PM on Dec 24th 2007
3. The celebration of Christmas began 3,000 years ago with the Saturnalia, in which those who worshipped Saturn (father of Zeus) had a week-long festival in the month of December with feasting and slaves were set free to celebrate with their masters and gifts were exchanged. Not unlike some office parties I've been to. This pagan celebration evolved into the christian's Christmas, and shows signs of evolving back into a pagan festival with Santa claus, elves, etc. Which is what the christians are bleating about.
The Goddess Athena at 2:55PM on Dec 24th 2007
4. http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com
Maurice at 3:50PM on Dec 24th 2007
5. I wanted an iPhone for Christmas.
President of AT&T says the 3G (HSUPA) version will be available after the New Year. (And everyone should wait because it will be much, much better.)
So, no iPhone for Christmas.
I'm sorry to say this, but Dinesh has become a joke. And not a funny one, either.
He attended a school run by Jesuits in Bombay, India before he came to America (and Dartmouth) and they apparently taught him that insulting atheists is a sign of being "intellectual."
In America, more than half of the scientists with University positions identify themselves as Atheists or Agnostics.
Dinesh, that's a strange group to insult on a day in, day out basis.
I think you'd have more luck with the Pentecostals. There's something about a religion that believes in handling poisonous snakes....
William Hays at 4:13PM on Dec 24th 2007
6. Christmas is fun. I enjoy being with family, putting up the tree on christmas eve. Hanging ornaments and wrapping presents. On christmas evening we have a goose dinner with oyster dressing. Every year I bake a cheesecake. I enjoy the togetherness of family.
JefFlyingV at 5:38PM on Dec 24th 2007
7. I was the child of a mother who had been deprived of Christmas because her very poor, rural, devoutly Christian family belonged to the conservative branch of the "Church of Christ" which found no scriptural reason to celebrate Christmas. As a child she never had any presents, no tree, no Santa Claus. She and her siblings only knew the holidays through pictures in the Sears Roebuck catalogue, stories by Louisa May Alcott and O. Henry, and in singing Christian carols that were in the church songbook but not sung specifically for Christmas. The church didn't prohibit Christmas celebrations, they just discouraged it and permitted it only as a secular holiday. And that's what it was for us as a family. Our family continued to attend the Church of Christ, not deep in rural Kentucky but in working class southern California where the sun shone brightly on the glittery street decorations and on the shining snow-clad mountaintops in the distance.
Dorothy Ellen Whitsell at 7:09PM on Dec 24th 2007
8. A kid does not differentiate between a secular and religious holiday but loves and enjoys it all. Christmas, Yuletide, Noel, holidays, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia or any other name, people of all religions and of no religion at all are still capable of love, enjoyment, and the desire for peace. Therefore celebrating the holidays should be considered something for all of us. Also, hating the holidays is not confined to atheists or even non-Christians. It's the best of times and is also the worst of times. Suffering and deprivation goes on all year long and at this season we should resolve to attend to it all year long. Christians may feel a moral obligation to stop suffering and the despoilation of the earth but non-Christians do too. Do everything you can to live cleanly and humanely. For instance, stop supporting the extreme cruelty to animals that is deeply involved in your holiday dinner on their body parts. Help your own body become a clean and pure vessel by no longer cramming it full of junk. Clean out your house and yard and donate stuff to help the poor. Doing these things greatly increases your ability to truly enjoy the holidays and to mean it when you say peace on earth and good will towards all.
Dorothy Ellen Whitsell at 7:32PM on Dec 24th 2007
9. IN A LITTLE MORE THAN 24 H0URS IT WILL ALL BE OVER AND ALL THOSE SUFFERING FROM CHRISTMAS PMS WILL BE CURED. CALL IT THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.
IRONBLUEEYES at 8:55PM on Dec 24th 2007
10. TO ALL WHO DO NOT BELIVE IN GOD. I CHALLANGE YOU TO PRAY TO GOD WITH A SINCERE HEART, ASKING GOD TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO YOU IN A WAY THAT YOU CAN NOT DENY. CHALLANGE # 2 READ THE BOOK OF ST. JOHN- NEW TEST. KING JAMES VERSION. ASKING GOD TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND.
TOM COX at 9:53PM on Dec 24th 2007
11. BY THE WAY MR. HAYS, ALL PENTACOSTALS ARE NOT SNAKE HANDELERS.
TOM COX at 9:59PM on Dec 24th 2007
12. I am a cradle Catholic. I do not doubt that Jesus Christ is true God and true Man. The Son of God.
He is the reason for this day of celebration. He gave us all free will so if you choose to doubt Him
that is your choice. All I can say is Happy Birthday Jesus!
Robin Smith-Lutz at 11:57PM on Dec 24th 2007
13. William Hays... It seems you have no problem insulting those who don't agree with you. You seem to know very little about what Pentecostals believe (there are maybe a handful of churches out of tens of thousands that practice snake handling, and none in any major Pentecostal denomination), yet you seem to believe that you're learned enough to belittle their faith. Dinesh was educated by Jesuits and at Dartmouth - he's proved he's an educated man. You on the other hand...
By the way, I have a friend who's a scientist at MIT, and who believes in God. By your own statistics, almost half of all scientists at universities either believe in God or are not sure one way or the other. Tells me that most would find God's existence at least strongly plausible if not probable.
I hope that one day you will come to know Christ; not through an argument, but in a very real way. I feel sad for those who can only celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday or historical event, when I see it as part one of the fulfillment of God's promise of redemption. The greater Christmas is still to come.
Pax Christi...
Dave at 11:59PM on Dec 24th 2007
14. Looking at the history of religions worldwide, it's well documented how common it was for various ones like christianity to borrow or absorb elements and rituals from other religions, pagan or otherwise. Of course, god's were invented by humankind to try to explain what wasn't understood.An example today would be creationism, which has it's roots in writings from 3000 years ago, reflecting what was understood at the time.The theory evolution is an example of humankind looking for answers beyond "god did it, end of story".
Neal at 1:58AM on Dec 25th 2007
15. I'm with Robin. It's not the presents under the tree, it's HIS presence in the manger, HIS life, HIS death, HIS resurrection, and HIS LIFE. JESUS is the reason for the season!
Richard at 3:00AM on Dec 25th 2007