An Atheist’s Christmas

Growing up I considered myself Christian and absolutely loved Christmas. I could swear the day literally felt like it was unlike all other days and we all transcended to a different plane of existence. I was lucky to have a family that was loving and created those moments that I was able to enjoy so much. I owe a lot of that thanks to my mom for always trying her best and making a priority out of creating those times. One Christmas I even got an Epiphone Les Paul (guitar) and I LOVED IT and still have it to this day. That was probably my favorite day of my entire life so far because I really didn’t think we could afford anything like that at the time but mom made it work with a little help of my dad who no longer lived with us. Christmas really was my favorite holiday but as I’ve grown older I’ve lost a lot of the romantic feelings I had about it and honestly have grown to actively dislike a lot of things about it.

Nothing changed per se about how my family does holidays, it’s more so that I recognized things that I didn’t recognize as a wee lad. One is that I realized I was an atheist who thinks all the supernatural bits are just simply untrue and just humans making up stories to try to have some sort of understanding of their world even if that story isn’t founded in reality. This has made Christmas just a little strange because it’s like, do I still celebrate it? Am I a hypocrite if I celebrate Christmas as an atheist? I am aware that many atheists do celebrate Christmas; I think since Christians celebrate the Pagan holiday of Halloween and have mutated most of their holidays with other Pagan holidays such as the Christmas tree being a Pagan tradition and all of the weirdness that is Easter traditions, if I am a hypocrite at least I’m not the only one. I don’t know how much I really cared for the religious aspect of Christmas as a kid anyway because I really wonder how much I believed it vs. how much I wanted to believe it.

As for the non-religious aspects of Christmas, even though I like them, I also very much don’t. I think there are some good intentions there but it has turned, in a very real way, to an unhealthy situation. People buy things for the sake of buying things. People end up stressed about what to get people and it becomes it’s own thing, and the worst part is that more often than we’d like to admit we get things we appreciate for a day or month max and never use again… AND FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT USING. Yes of course there are things like my Les Paul that are just absolutely special and cherished things but so much of it isn’t about that and it makes me sad. Ideally for me, I would like it if we spent more time only getting things that were mostly like that. If someone really wants a thing, get that, if they kinda don’t want anything because they have all the physical things they want, don’t get get them anything. This should be an accepted norm. Of course I can appreciate the concept that Christmas can serve as a reminder that giving to others is a virtue for sure, but not in the way we do it. Maybe if we’re going to stress about how to give, we should focus on one big special thing for someone who would sincerely benefit from it rather than “get ALL the things for ALL THE PEOPLE!!!!!! GONNA DIE stress.”

This one’s gonna be short because I am writing this at 8:30pm on Christmas Eve and also I think I said all I would like to say. 🙂 I hope whatever holidays you celebrate, if you celebrate any at all, that you enjoy them and make your happiness as much a priority as you make others. Much love to you all and I’ll see you next week to probably rant about the weirdness and more importantly the arbitrariness that is New Years. Happy whatever you are doing with your life right now. ❤