I post all MY inner awesome here, in hopes that you will be inspired to release yours for all the world to see...

Friday, December 14, 2012

I Can Do Christmas Too

     The other day on Facebook, I posted a simple inquiry: What do you want for christmas? I expected materialistic answers like an iPad, cute shoes, and the latest books on the New York Bestsellers list. Or maybe even intangibles like love, quality time with family, and world peace. Instead of gifts, I got an incredibly condescending answer from a member of my former church. She said, "You don't do Christmas".
     It is widely known in my former church that I'm an atheist, so I immediately understood what she was implying, but the fact is, its just not true. I still celebrate christmas, I just don't buy all the christian and pagan crap behind it. I don't have to believe in the Roman god, Saturn from saturnalia, but I still decorate a tree every year. I don't have to believe in the Scandinavian god, Yule, to eat a yule log. I'm not a Druid, but I still hope for a kiss beneath the mistletoe. I don't have to believe in Odin's flying night riders, to sing about Rudolph and his reindeer friends. And I don't have to believe that some magi gave gifts to baby Jesus in order to give gifts to my friends and family.
     As an atheist, the holidays that were once seemingly only meaningful because of religion, don't become any less meaningful just because the religion part goes away. I still appreciate them for what they always truly were: time spent with the people I love. I am not offended by nativity scenes in people's yards or crosses plastered all over commercials screaming anything other than the axis tilt being the "Reason for the Season!" I simply let people believe what they wish and celebrate how they'd like. I still wrap gifts that I know will put smiles on my family and friends' faces, place them under a decorative tree and anticipate the morning they rip them open. I will always sing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and watch White Christmas with my mom as we have done traditionally every year since I was a teen. And I will always tell my family how much I love them on Christmas day, because that is how I do christmas.

Merry Christmas
Happy Kwanzaa
Happy Hanukkah

Peace & Love
Chantal Wallace