Christmas - an empty experiance?

Question

I don't buy into religon, along with many others. So, take away the christian content of the occasion, Christmas,as 'celebrated' is basically an empty experience. Near hysterical over indulgence, forced interaction, just empty.
I am not depressed, am not a humbug, just bothered about the ethos of the whole experience.

Answer 1

The problem is with the way people 'celebrate' it. "Near hysterical over indulgence, forced interaction," is, as you said, "just empty." People who celebrate Christmas that way are missing the point, but for those who approach the season with a generous spirit and a sincere desire for fellowship, it can be wonderful, memorable, exhiliarating, and rejuvenating.

The key is in remembering that it is better to give than to receive and it is the thought that counts. When I am asked what I want for Christmas, I never know what to say because I always get so much more joy out of seeing people's reactions to the carefully chosen gifts I give them than I do out of something given to me. This year, the one thing I asked for was to have a TV cable run to my room so I can watch regular TV and not just DVDs. I already have the TV, the cable splitter, and the cable, so it's just a matter of an hour or so of work. I would be happy if that was all I got, but I am sure someone will thrill me with the perfect gift that I didn't even realize I wanted. I know this, because my family loves me and they have been thinking about me and what I like while they do their shopping just as I have been thinking about them.

The weekend before or the day after Christmas, my closest family (parents, siblings and their spouses, nieces and nephews) usually has a big meal at my parents' house and as many of us who can make it usually attend. This is the second year I have done the cooking, and I find it tremendously gratifying to be able to give them all that gift of my time and talents. Not to brag, but I am a pretty good cook.

No one says we have to gorge ourselves, but food is a large part of many celebrations because preparing it and sharing it is crucial to human existence. We cannot live without sustenance, and when we share a meal with someone, we are sharing and celebrating LIFE. We always have a large meal because there are many of us (fourteen and counting), but I can't remember the last time I ate so much that I regretted it.

I cook for my family often throughout the year, and it is a pleasure to do so, but the Christmas meal is special because we are all together. We also exchange gifts at this time, usually something small that shows a little thought about what the person likes/needs. I'm giving my mother enlarged, framed photos of her parents when they were courting in the 1920's or 30's and of her and her siblings when they were kids in the 1950's. My dad is getting peanuts in the shell (his favorite treat) a small bag of an expensive brand of coffee he really likes, and a heating pad to help with his arthritis. Most of the others are getting gift cards for stores where they like to shop (sporting goods for one brother, a kitchen store for a sister-in-law, Best Buy for a nephew) because I know what they like but not what they don't have yet. The point, at least for us, is not to give a lot, but to give something that shows real consideration of who the person is and what they might like.

We have our Christmas meal just before or right after the holiday because, on Christmas Eve, we have a party at my uncle's house. Again, the important thing is the fellowship. For some of us, it is one of only a couple of times a year when we can get together. This is also when we all get to see and exchange gifts with my uncle's family. We don't all buy something for everyone, with 40-50 people that would leave us all broke, and we don't draw names, but we each buy for a few people, whoever we find the 'right' gifts for, and everyone always winds up getting something. Of course food is part of the celebration. Without something to nosh on, how can you have a party? But my favorite part of it is seeing how excited the children get to have new games and toys to play with.

Christmas morning, we all have breakfast with my aunt's family and exchange gifts with them, just like we do with my uncle's family on Christmas Eve. Her children who live out of town come home and we get to see how fast their girls are growing. My aunt and cousins cook while my uncle entertains the little kids and Christmas carols play in the background. Then there is the traditional Christmas day football game for my brothers and cousins. I'm the only girl in my generation and was never interested in playing, but now that we're all over thirty and most of us are over forty, I tease them about the Geritol Bowl.

I guess in my family, and probably in most other families that celebrate Christmas, we do so much celebrating during Christmas week because it is the one time when we all have time off work and school to be together. Not being Christian, you are missing the most important gift of Christmas...the promise of Salvation through Jesus Christ...but if you wanted to start a tradition of gifting and fellowhip in your family on the Fourth of July, Arbor Day, or some arbitrarily selected day in August, whatever, you could enjoy the same fellowship and goodwill that we share in my huge, crazy family.

The "ethos of the whole experience" that bothers you has a lot more to do with corporate America trying to increase profits by co-opting and commercializing a Christian holiday (read "holy day") than it does with Christian people celebrating the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ. Experience the holiday with a family (religious or not) that focuses on love and fellowship rather than giving and getting the most expensive presents and you might have a different view of things.

Answer 2

I don't think christmas is empty and I am not religious. Its a time I enjoy.
I work in a school and have just seen 500 children aged 3-11 thrill at watching their teachers dress up and perform a poorly performed panto (everyone was laughing so hard we had trouble hearing the dialouge). That is an experience they will remember fondly for the rest of their lives - I know I remember my teachers doing it for us. It wasn't over indulgance, it wasn't forced it was pure fun and it certainly wouldn't have happened at any other time of the year.

I enjoy christmas because I look at all the good things that come with it - not the material things as they pass. I look at it as a chance to spend time with the people I love without us all having to see when we can get together because of work etc. I see the excitement in the children I work with and my neices and nephews. I love all the decorations - I feel they really cheer me up when the nights are cold and dark.

Christmas is full of great stuff but I guess it depends on what you do at that time of year, who you spend it with and if you make the most of it.

Answer 3

I don't intend that what I'm about to say should offend anyone, but not having a "connection" with God (the Christian content) is what makes the experience seem empty. I DO agree with you about all the other "trappings" -- the over-indulgent parents, the selfish children, the forced interaction with neighbors (both in the stores, & in traffic), but there's a part of the story of the Messiah's birth that keeps me grounded in the true meaning of the season. In the Gospel of St. Luke, when Mary & Joseph took Jesus to the temple to present Him to God (much like an infant Baptism), the Holy Spirit had led a man named Simeon to be at the temple that day. Now Simeon had been promised (by God) that he would live long enough to see the Savior of Isreal. When he saw the Christ-child, overcome with emotion, he held Him & said, (paraphrased) "Thank you, God. Now I can die a happy man, for I have seen Your promise to me fulfilled.Here is the Light that will light the path that leads to You." .....And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!

Answer 4

I'm agnostic, raised Christian, and at first celebrated Christmas out of tradition. Since having a family, though, things have changed a bit in my idea of Christmas. The Christians celebrate Christmas because of Jesus. The biblical Jesus taught love. Love thy neighbor, love one another, love the sinner, etc. So Christmas is sort of a celebration of love. Even the gift giving part is supposed to be about love. Whether you're Christian or atheist or another religion, or something in between, a holiday about Love is a more worthy holiday than any other, in my opinion.

I don't buy into the commercialism, the overloaded gifts, the b.s. interaction. I spend the holiday with the people I love.

Answer 5

Since my children have grown up it seems to have become more and more commercial every year,a hard push by shops to sell their goods earlier and earlier every year,usually starting around August with the clearance of gardening stuff to make way for cards and tins of biscuits and eventually all the other goodies. If you ask a child what Christmas means they hardly ever say it is a religious event it is all about presents just like Easter is all about eggs,talking of Easter look out for the eggs in the middle of January! lol I feel the same ,I am not a humbug but fed up of the commercial side of the event

Answer 6

The ethos is a bit bothersome , i agree. Also the religious aspect is a perfomed hijacking of pagan festivals and even has dual themes and so who can blame you for not buying into that. I like your phrase hysterical over indulgence(they shop and shop and fill their larders and fridges ,half of which will be wasted)Forced interactions,yes those visitors that we simply must have round for longer than we can stand or worse stop over with us ! I wish for a law to make christmas a 4 yearly affair,like a leap year,then by not having it every year we could go over indulge and over the top without so much bloody debt,pressure and having to see some so often .

Answer 7

You are quite right. The real problem is that Christmas has been hijacked by commercial interests in the modern age, and it will never now be any different.

Someone said having no children for too long is the problem. I have a daughter, and it ought to be all about them, but the crap that goes along with it is unwelcome - the pointless exchange of cards, relatives you never see or care about all year round, the insane over indulgence that Dickens despised. The crazy late night shopping trips and panic buying for the sake of a single day.

Let's all say it together........

BAH, HUMBUG!!!

ps I agree, it is really the winter solstice on the 21st and the Festival of the Invincibile Sun God on the 25th, let's get down to Stonehenge and reclaim the pagan festivals of the ancient Britons, it is our heritage, as valid to Britain as the pyramids are to Egypt.

Answer 8

Well said. What many people don't seem to realise is that it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. There are many reasons why this can be said. Perhaps the first thing is that Jesus was earlier in the year. Another major reason is that Jesus had nothing to do with paganism or false worship of any sort and Christmas is pure paganism. Further details can be found at this web site, it's well worth a look.

Answer 9

Christmas is a full experience, a time when Christians express gratitude to there spiritual savior, by showing compassion for their fellow man. This full Christian tradition has influenced people outside of the Christan faith to such a degree that today many non-Christians participate in the acts of compassion, which are part of the Christan tradition.

Answer 10

I have sort of an answer. I guess I'm not into religion either. I have thought about this before, Christmas without the Baby Jesus is just presents and lights. I found out after asking several of my friends who aren't religious either and they say that if you aren't into religion then it's a time for family and just spending time together. Hope this helps.

Answer 11

Well, yeah,any thing without significance is empty and shallow.
You can't take Christ out of Christmas and still expect it to have the same meaning for you. If you do then it's just so much hedonism and over indulging selfishness