Question about Christmas and religion?

Question

I have a question for those of you who celebrate Christmas from a religious instead of commercial standpoint.

Do you buy gifts? If so, is there a preset spending limit to prevent the celebration from becoming a financial burden? Is there anyone on here who's family does not buy gifts, but celebrates in a different way?

Do you read the Christmas story/attend church/read from the Bible on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

It seems to me that the holiday is more of a time to get together with family, exchange gifts, and catch up with each other and has very little to do with Jesus's birthday.

Answer 1

Um, I'm not sure if I'll count but I celebrate Yule (as I'm Pagan) without presents etc etc, but a few days later I do the whole present thing as well. I personally dont see whats wrong with spoiling loved ones at that time of year. (I know its becoming more and more commercial but nothings gonna change that), to me Yule/Christmas is a time for family and friends!

Answer 2

For a long time, I didn't buy other people gifts on Christmas, and asked them not to buy me gifts either, because I DO think that it's become awfully commercial and because I felt like I was forgeting what Christmas was all about. I still think it's quite commercial.

However, now I see Christmas as being almost two different holidays in one--the secular, and the religious. The "religious" holiday involves celebrating the miracle that was the birth of Christ, and has nothing to do with Santa Claus, giving gifts, etc. For me, the religious meaning of Christmas is celebrated with quiet reflective services during advent, service on Christmas eve, and service on Christmas morning.

Now, the gift-giving aspect of Christmas is often deemed to be religious (and did have religious origins), but is actually quite secular. Originally, gifts were exchanged on Jan. 6th (Epiphany) to commemorate the day that the wisemen presented Jesus with gifts. This was just a month later than St. Nicholas day (Dec 6th) among the Dutch, when presents were also given/exchanged.

Eventually, the two holidays were combined--probably in an attempt to make gift-giving more manageable for parents and to keep children from becoming too greedy. Consequently, the two holidays were combined into Christmas, which is why Santa Claus comes on Christmas, and you often (incorrectly) see the three wisemen in the nativity scene.

Thus, the present holiday is comprised of both religious AND secular traditions (some of which originally began from religion). However, I agree that for me, a big part of the holiday is spending time with my family and observing the more secular aspects. Still, the religious aspect of celebrating the miracle of Jesus's birth is a huge part of the holiday for my family and I as well.

I think that you CAN have both.

Answer 3

We exchange gifts in our family. We've never had a "spending limit" - but we stay within a budget.

Even the Jewish members of our family celebrate the same way (with the whole family)

In our home (just my wife and I) - we light the Advent Candles for the four weeks prior to Christ-Mass...and we say Vespers together every evening.

We attend the Midnight Mass of Christ-Mass Eve and the Mass on Christ-Mass morning. I celebrate both of them as a rule.

This year, as last year, we will Celebrate the Christ-Mass Eve Mass in a real horse stable, to remind us of our roots. The Christ-Mass Gospel is read and proclaimed at the Holy Eucharist.

Then, after we are done with all of the Services... we get together with family for gift-exchange and a real family feast.

I think that balance is the key.

We also celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas and The Epiphany as well.

Answer 4

Here's something to consider: there is a lot of meaning in the birth narrative that is lost in the hoopla, so after things settle down, shift gears and focus on Epiphany; Christ not just coming to earth, but now coming to all people groups. The eastern churches already do this. American families and churches can celebrate Christmas along with the culture, but then when the world snores away from too much commercial gluttony, come together and celebrate Epiphany without the distractions.

Answer 5

I celebrate both Christ centered Christmas and Secular Christmas. The reason is that I like to decorate with the Christmas tree's and the North pole and Santa Themes and also have Christ Centered also at the same time. I love Christmas both Christ Centered and Secular. However, I don't like the materalism about the Holiday it's scary that people thinks they can go and buy expensive gifts and presents for this holiday. What happend to the needs and little things?
I also like to bake cookies and cakes and bars and stuff like that for Christmas and love all kinds of Christmas songs.

Answer 6

I am a practising Catholic and I must admit I don't buy many presents for Christmas, nor do I receive many. My family and friends are all very close to me and we spend the whole year buying things for each other and watching each other's back, so at Christmas sure we have gifts, but our focus is very much on the religious Feastday.

Thanks for your question, you've just made me realise a bit more how lucky I am.

Answer 7

I buy gifts for the people I care about as a way to show my love and appreciation for them. Cost doesn't really factor into it. I think about the person I'm buying for and what they like and go from there. As far as any of the "traditions" go, we do put up a tree and lights to make things more festive but I've never used Christmas to celebrate Jesus' birth. It just never felt right to me.

Answer 8

The story of Santa comes from a Vienese legend about St. Nicholas. He
had a companion named Krampus, an evil spirit. Can anyone deny
that commercialism, materialism, and financial burden take away from what Christmas is supposed to be?

Answer 9

It does seem that way. My family is religious and we do exchange gifts, mainly because of tradition more so than religion. If you want to make it religious, say that we exchange gifts because God gave us a gift at Christmas, the gift of his Son, and that no matter how many toys, clothes, money, etc. is given, it will never match God's gift to us. That's how I look at it.

Answer 10

My family does buy gifts, but we also go to Christmas mass every year and it's one of the three times we pray before we eat.