Does religion feature in your christmas?

[Mindtrope]

I have some very religious members of my family.
I always think it odd that she sends me cards with pictures of camels and sand dunes at christmas time.The only thing we do is listen to Carols at Kings, sweet in a traditional way, but not for the religious aspect.
Is your house a jesus free zone?

Jesus all the way here.

I know that many of the traditions we lifted from older religions. But I choose to use those which help me to worship my God, and discard those which don't.

We have a tree; I don't worship the tree, nor treat it as an idol. But I marvel at its beauty and thank the Creator for such care and attention to detail. And any scratches from the needles remind me of the wounds Jesus suffered later. The decorations I choose have personal meaning - either specifically Christian symbols, or else reminders of friends and family I don't see for whatever reason (death, distance, separation).

We have lights everywhere because Jesus is the Light of the World.

I'll choose cards with a specifically Christian theme on them; either a bible verse or a scene from the nativity; no jolly Santas or reindeer. I would love the card mentioned up thread though with the shepherds telling the Angels to shut up - many of us Christians do in fact have quite a good sense of humour!

Other decorations - they'll be candles (light of the world), bells (to tell the world the good news), hearts (God is love), nativity scenes (but only ones where Jesus can be removed from the scene until Christmas Eve), greens and reds and gold for new life, blood, and kingliness.

We have stockings first thing, but after that, we do church before we do presents.

We observe Advent, seeing it as a season of preparation, getting ready. Getting the house ready by cleaning and decoration. And getting ourselves ready by clearing out unhelpful habits and thoughts and starting again. Getting ready to celebrate His birthday (and yes, I do know it probably wasn't December 25th, but that's when I choose to celebrate it anyway!) and getting ready for the second coming, whenever that will be.

Oh, and whilst there will be all kinds of Christmas music going on, I prefer carols and Christian-based Christmas songs to to jingle bells/most wonderful time of the year/all I want for Christmas is you type songs.

Still enjoy Love Actually, a Muppet Christmas Carol, Arthur Christmas and others as essential pre-Christmas viewing though!

its a time for feasting. For celebrating. For making small children happy. For showing love to one another. For taking a it of time to pause in wonder at the miracle of the King of Heaven choosing to be made lowly, to come to this world not on clouds of fire but naked and helpless and Loved.

We celebrate a winter festival in our household, with pagan and christian elements.

We bring in and decorate a tree with lights and celebrate Yule because we are looking forward to the spring and the new year coming. We also go to church on christmas eve to celebrate Christmas (Christ's Mass) because it is another part of the story.

Surely both the pagan and christian parts of the winter festival are as legitimate as each other in terms of celebration and 'being the reason for the season' seeing as both are just stories? and without them there would be no 'winter festival' called either Yuletide or Christmas.

Team Santa and Team Jesus are not mutually exclusive.

Yep - Christ is at the heart of our Christmas, but I think the more joy and celebration in this world the better and so never think to prohibit non believers from Christmas. We all need more wonder in our lives many different traditions have fused together over the years to make what we have now - from Christmas trees to yuletide to St Nick. If it's all to the good and the loveliness of coming together with loved ones, bring it on.

Christmas is about joy and hope. Let's all celebrate as we wish to.

Santa is a story, Jesus is the Son of God

Isn't Jesus being the son of god a story too?

bother... pressed send too soon.

Further to my point about the winter festivities, we are pretty much agnostic in this household. We don't strongly believe in Paganism or christianity, not sure what we believe in really.

I was brought up in a totally non religious, no jesus in our christmas (although there was at school), type house and my husband was brought up with a bit of jesus in christmas.

I just really like the sentiments behind the christmas story, as much for the culture of our society as for the religious element.

Yes, not so good at getting to church with small kids but I will get to the 9 lessons and carols on my own and that will be my time to pray and reflect. Will take the kids on Christmas Eve. We've lit our first Sunday candle today and the preparations begin here.

Myth sounds better than story Olivers don't you think?

Myth ..... the unconscious creation of a whole culture.

Features heavily here, but then we are regular church goers and choristers.

We do have both - I've never seen any problem with it.

Rather divisive thread.

Definitely celebrating a winterfest in this house.
No religion - won't buy cards with "christmas" on them or decorations with a religious theme.
Except i do refer to the "christmas holidays", adore xmas carols (even tho i won't personally sing them) and will reply "Merry Christmas" to anyone wishing me the same - but am cheerily hypocritical.

Myths to my mind are associated with Atlantis and Ancient Greek Gods.

As mentioned on here the reference is Bible stories not Bible myths

Atheist here

Having said that

There is a nativity scene in the conservatory and one in the living room, used to have a plastic one for the children

We go to the nativity mass on christmas eve most years and i do love a good carol

But thats it...big santa fan

Send and receive Christmas cards (some with religious theme, others not so much). Go to Mass (regularly, not just at Christmas). Light a candle in the window on Christmas eve.. Have a Christmas crib on the hall table.

No religion here but I have been telling my 4yo DS a bit about the reason for Christmas. A human created celebration to help people get through the dark, cold and wet winter. And that various peoples came up with different stories to explain/justify the celebration. I've started by giving him a very basic rundown of the story of Jesus' birth because that's the story that permeates our culture. He sees nativity scenes in many shops now and will hear Christmas songs that reference the Christian story, so it's best that he understands what they are about.

But as he's ready I'll tell him about the other old stories like those of Yule, Hanukkah, Saturnalia, Mōdraniht, etc. When he's a bit older I'll teach him about more modern festivals like Pancha Ganapati and Kwanzaa, which will be a great way for him to gain an understanding of how various religions and cultures can turn a popular holiday into a version that suits their belief system. I'll also talk to him about Bodhi Day and Laba, and we'll explore how they may or may not link to mid-winter.

We focus our Christmas around Jesus and the church celebrations and join in all the other Father Christmas type fun too. I don't think you can really object to receiving a religious themed card at Christmas though.

Absolutely no Jesus stuff in our house, or those of any of our families, ever. We're all as atheist as it's possible to be. We're only here for the Quality Street and presents

We are a mixed Jewish/Christian/Pagan family...we celebrate everything! I will attend midnight service with my mum even though I converted to Judaism. I am always transfixed by the beauty of the carols and the birth story. I then walk out into the cold still night air, look up at the moon and give thanks to the Mother Goddess her blessings.

Purchased two books on explaining evolution to toddlers so....no, no religious element here

Purchased two books on explaining evolution to toddlers so....no, no religious element here

Christmas at ours involves real people, real baubles and plenty food and fun.

We do not let make belief folk in. Except Santa, maybe.

And any scratches from the needles remind me of the wounds Jesus suffered later.

How morbid.

FixItUpChappie you do realise that evolution is accepted by all mainstream churches and I've heard it preached from the pulpit on several occasions don't you?

Yes but I'm the vicar so you would expect that. There are lots of presents and family stuff and Christmas decorations and Santa featured when the kids were small. Christmas has a number of strands; midwinter feasting, Christian festival, the relatively recent celebration of family and as well as the traditions from around the world that are thrown into the mix so it isn't surprising that different families celebrate differently.

greenheart, I quite enjoy the mix, it is a midwinter celebration with lots of tack ons.
What I find moving is the central message. The light in the darkness, the hope, whether it's watching the sunrise on the solstice or the birth of new life. The idea of the depths of winter we can find optimism and joy seems to cut across all interpretations of christmas, and that's something we can all share whether we have faith or not.
I am an atheist but that does not stop me from feeling deeply moved by the majesty and wonder of life.

Yes, we attend mass and the children read the story of Christmas so they understand what is all about