



I often felt isolated from the whole Christmas season. I still feel that isolation in many ways. There's the pang of remorse when I can't empathize with my friends as they tell stories about how they snuck out of bed to see Santa appear from the chimney or recount the psychologically scarring moment when they finally realized Santa was a lie. Christmas was once truly " real " to most of my friends, but for me it was just a kind of farce. It was an annual delusion that fell upon my peers, but it was also beautiful. The worst part was that it was a collective dilution I couldn't participate in.





Nowadays, in our ever more lonely individualistic society, people gladly volunteer for delusion if it gives them a feeling of community and interconnectedness. These people are often the best of us, because they still have a will to live. The rest of us just stay home alone watching Netflix. Christmas is among the few remaining national communal events. Almost everything we once shared as a nation has been politicized into divisiveness. People want unity, and Christmas is increasingly the only time they still have to celebrate it.





Most religious people celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday. They set up a nativity scene, they hear sermons about Jesus' birth, and they perform certain rituals leading up to their King's birthday. Mainstream Churches of Christ, however, don't celebrate Christmas this way (although this might be changing ). I usually hear lessons, prayers, and whole sermons denouncing Christmas as a celebration of Jesus' birth during the holiday season. Our version of celebrating Christmas is the ritualized denunciation of it. On one of the few days the world opens up to Christ we're busy shutting them up.





Polar Express version of Christmas because I couldn't "hear the bell," and I couldn't accept the nativity version because it "added to the Bible" (and I was never allowed to watch those movies). Christmas, then, was just a day of family gatherings and greedily accumulating new stuff. There are basically two kinds of Christmas movies: "believe in Santa" movies and "Jesus is the reason for the season" movies (I'm ignoring the Hallmark variety). As a child, both of them were lies to me. I couldn't accept theversion of Christmas because I couldn't "hear the bell," and I couldn't accept the nativity version because it "added to the Bible" (and I was never allowed to watch those movies). Christmas, then, was just a day of family gatherings and greedily accumulating new stuff.





Christmas" we put religion back into the holiday by mentioning Christ. The holiday's name "Christ's mass" necessitates its The Church of Christ's attempt to celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday and strip it of its religious roots is ironic. When I try to explain our perspective to Christians from other denominations they're usually deeply perplexed. They often say things like: "But I thought only atheists wanted to get rid of celebrating Jesus' birth?" I've come to think the Church of Christ's war on Christmas isn't a very practical one. Every time we say "Merrymas" we put religion back into the holiday by mentioning Christ. The holiday's name "Christ's mass" necessitates its identity as a Christian high day. I don't personally celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, but I think we're probably fighting a losing battle if we can't say the holiday's name without making it religious.





Church of Christers almost always raise the objection that Jesus wasn't actually born on December 25th. We often regard this fact as a kind of trump card that should end all debate. I've heard and believed this factoid my entire life, but then recently I stumbled across an article that changed my entire perspective. Turns out, shepherds actually do keep their flocks in the fields in December. I'm writing this on Christmas Eve, and the temperature in Jerusalem today is 61 degrees. In fact, the average December day in Jerusalem reaches 60 degrees. Sheep are also pretty well insulated.





"We ought to celebrate the birth-day of our Lord on what day soever the 25th of December shall happen." "For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, was December 25th, Wednesday, while Augustus was in his forty-second year, but from Adam, five thousand and five hundred years." Furthermore, various men have Second century Christians wrote that Jesus was born on December 25th, and they even recommended his birth be celebrated. Theophilus of Caesarea , born AD 115, wrote: Hippolytus of Rome wrote:Furthermore, various men have estimated the day of Jesus' birth based on the dates of John the Baptist's conception and birthday. These estimates usually place it somewhere in late December.





Of course, even if Jesus was born on December 25th that doesn't mean we should celebrate it. The real question is not when was Jesus born, but whether we should create sacred calendar days. Jesus never commanded us to celebrate his birthday, but his followers did it anyway because they loved him and wanted to remember the events of his life throughout the year. This isn't so different from President's Day in America. We celebrate the birthday of George Washington because he was a great man adored by his countrymen. Are we wrong for doing this? No offense to George, but his importance to me is minimal in comparison to Jesus.





When I look at Christmas from my totally disenchanted perspective, from the perspective of believing neither in Santa Claus nor the dates' religious importance, I can't help but feel that it's just a shell. It's an excuse to buy things, an excuse to get off work, an excuse to party. But would Christmas even exist if it wasn't for its sacred roots? If no one had ever believed Christmas had religious significance would we still be gathering as families, getting off work, or spending exorbitantly on gifts? I think the clear answer is "no." Secularism doesn't create things, it just parasites what religion builds. It doesn't create great moments of community, it just warps those moments into soulless materialistic excuses for hedonism. As Christians, we need to ask ourselves what kind of holiday we want. Do we want the kind of holiday that's hollowed of its original spiritual depth? Would God want us to remove his presence from an established tradition?





There's a family at my church who claims Christmas is a pagan holiday and that all forms of celebrating it are equivalent to participating in paganism. They decided to replace the celebration of Christmas with the celebration of Winter Solstice . They still give out presents, but they explicitly tie this to the solstice. I applaud them for their consistency. At least they understand the irony of celebrating Christmas as an entirely secular holiday. However, it's even more ironic that they replaced Christmas with one of the highest days on the pagan calendar . They've decided to take the holidays "full pagan" and do away with all their Christian roots.





I imagine most Christians don't want to replace Christmas with full paganism, but how do we satisfy those who need something deeper from life? We should ask whether we're redeeming our entire lives for Christ, even our holidays, or whether we're just trivializing our communal celebrations? Is life an empty shell of secularism when we're not in church? Is nothing sacred that isn't specifically mentioned in the Bible? Traditionally, Christians have sacralized every part of life. Their whole lives were seen as worship, and that included the holidays. Why are we pushing for more secularization and reductionist consumerism when we should be pushing for spirituality?





I was once invited to a Christmas Eve vigil by a group of Christians in a foreign country. We gathered and sang songs, and the children acted out nativity plays. Midnight approached and the lights were turned off, candles were passed around, and we gathered together in the center of the room. Candlelight flickered across our faces. We sang songs in multiple languages, and the vigil culminated in prayer. I felt so close to my fellow Christians during those moments.





I'm presently sitting in Starbucks on Christmas Eve. I wish I had something more sacred to do than write a long rambling article. I wish I had a vigil to attend right now, not because I celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, but because vigils are beautiful. Christmas Eve seems like a good enough reason to hold one. I'm always happy to spend my holidays performing the familial rituals that have made Christmas special to me since childhood, but wouldn't it be powerful if there was something deeper to our festivities?

My parents never let me believe in Santa Claus . They told me at a young age that Santa wasn't real. They had good reasons for this. They don't believe in lying, even to small children, and they didn't want me growing up to think Jesus was just like Santa: a pleasant myth or figment of childish imagination. I respect their decision, and I'm pretty sure I'd follow their example with my own hypothetical future children. I've often wondered if there's a correlation between losing faith in Santa as a child and losing faith in Christ, and I've talked to hundreds of atheists who claim the connection is obvious.However, I deeply wanted to believe in Santa when I was young. When the other kids at church were excited about Santa's arrival I wished I could share their excitement. I wanted to believe in the intrusion of Christmas magic into our cold predictable world. I wanted there to be something mysterious and meaningful about the long dark winter nights, blazing evergreen trees, and strange assortment of interesting delicious foods that seemed to harken back to a previous historic era.