How do atheists and non-religious celebrate christmas

I'm Jewish. Typically in my family we sleep late, take the dog on a long walk through the neighborhood, go to the movies, and get Chinese food. Yes, we are a stereotype.

 

I don't

 

Well some take advantage of it and get presents but really I think Christmas is a time of giving even though it is a Christianity holiday giving and cheerfulness applies to each and every religion. Go out there and give and love.

 

Eat.

 

My family is secular. We've always celebrated Christmas as more of a family holiday than a religious one. We also have put many different traditions together into one holiday. My parents originally did this to educate me about different holidays, but over the years it has stuck and it's just become something that we do every year.

The first Christmas after you deconvert is a bit weird though, because you have to figure out what you want to do, or if you want to do anything at all to celebrate it.

 

I'm not religious, but I grew up celebrating Christmas every year. I absolutely love decorating the tree. We have several ornaments, and different themes. We have a "blue" tree, "red" tree, "metal" tree, and a "gay pride" tree (we got a few sets of really pretty rainbow ornaments one year). We listen to rock/alternative Christmas music, relax, get together with family and most years exchange gifts. My favorites are the stockings, though. We stuff them with picnic type food, little toys, and then we have carpet picnics and play video games. Some years I give my friends and teachers Christmas cookies, and throw holiday/end of the year parties with my clubs. They involve good food and dancing, though usually I'm the only one dancing...

Long story short, it's a time for me and my family and friends to enjoy good music, hang out, relax, and have a good time together without stressing about work or school.

 

Aside from skipping church, probably the exact same way.

 

I'm an atheist, but my family is Catholic. I celebrate it just as a time to be with family, and I just ignore the religious aspect.

 

Eh. I care nothing for beliefs religious or non-religious enough to stop someone giving me free stuff. And despite the traditional meaning of christmas alot of things I value more than religion come into play in a holiday celebration to make it worthwhile. Friends, Family, awesome food, seeing a loved one's face lighten up when they open your gift. You can be an athiest and find plenty enough meaning in those things to celebrate. If you want to

 

I have gone back and forth between atheism and agnosticism throughout my life, starting out as a self-proclaimed atheist when I was about 8 years old. My mom has always been spiritual but non-religious, and my dad has always been atheist, and both of them encouraged me to choose my own path. But we still always celebrated Christmas, probably because my grandparents are all very Catholic.

I guess my parents just never instilled any of the religious aspects of Christmas in me, beyond the factual things, like the historical aspects and who Jesus is described as historically. Instead, they sort of taught me that Christmas is about whatever you want it to be. For us it was love and happiness, good food and a tree and showing people that you love them.

 

I celebrate the winter solstice, which I have called the Return of the Light.

I get together with my friends for food, and we discuss philosophy and self-improvement.

 

Likewise. Ever since I was a kid and I took on the label to "conform with the herd", I still saw it as a time to be with family and friends. Besides even with my family, we never acknowledges the religious aspects of it oddly enough.

 

Same...

When I converted from Christianity to Agnosticism, only my religious beliefs changed. The way the family celebrated Christmas remained exactly the same, which makes me realize that we never really emphasized the religious aspect of the holiday in the first place. <.<

Gifts, family bonding, holiday mischief, just being in the general spirit of winter. That kinda thing.

 

Just a family thing, we dont do the religious stuff but we do celebrate the rest of Christmas, virtually all atheists in the West do that

 

Please listen to this. It's pretty much how I think a lot of Australians celebrate.

Kate Miller-Heidke - White Wine in the Sun - YouTube

 

For my family, religion doesn't figure into it at all, and never really did. It's all about getting together with the entire family, sharing memories of the last year, reconnecting with the farther-flung branches of the family, sharing a meal and exchanging gifts. It also tends to be the moment where any conflict gets either resolved or put on hold.

So, all in all, I think it sounds like fairly Christian ideals in action, even if no one invokes Jesus' name.

To be perfectly honest... I never really heard of anyone here celebrating it any other way.

 

Our family chose to celebrate the Winter solstice instead. It comes just a few days early and we basically do the exact same stuff but we get to do it all a few days early . We are not putting up a tree this year but in previous years we would go find a tree on our property to cut down, we live in the middle of nowhere. Mostly the same stuff tree, lights, presents, food etc. Although honestly modern Xmas seems to have detached a fair amount from its Christian roots. Many of the Christian families I know don't actually do anything explicitly religious for Christmas.

 

I celebrate because it's just another holiday, not because it has anything to do with religion. It's all about food and gifts for me and putting up decorations.