Search



Comments

« Christmas celebrates . . . • Home • Damn atheist spam »

How do atheists celebrate Christmas?

• Richard Evans Lee

I'll be spending Thursday, December 25, 2004 and I spend the 24th, 23rd: doing whatever I feel like that day. For me the holiday requires no visits to malls. As you surely can guess I won't be going to church. Neither Santa Claus nor Jesus Christ will be on my mind.

In my personal weblog I've briefly recounted my own history with Christmas.

I have a pragmatic appreciation of the holiday's place in the irrational American economy. I don't get angry that a few, rare sincere Christians will be concentrating on what they think of as the Miracle of Calvary. Nor will I care that others will be lying smug in their bed, visions of my damnation dancing in their head.

Nativity scenes don't offend me. The really bad ones I enjoy seeing for their wonderful tackiness.

I don't waste my hours wondering about the tribal rites of distant primitives. I don't fret about Muslim holy days, Hindu festivals, Buddhist celebrations. All I ask of religious folks is they leave me and mine alone. Let us do whatever we require to have happy and successful lives.

For me Christmas is irrelevant.

I'd assume that this is how most atheists deal with Christmas. Some of you maybe dragged into family rituals, workplace fetes. But unless you are so determinedly atheist as to be a bore you aren't out picketing displays of uninteresting, unintelligent piety.

Tell me, how do you spend Xmas.

Richard Evans Lee
December 20, 2003 •
BlinkList • del.icio.us • Digg it • Furl • ma.gnolia
RawSugar • Shadows • Simpy • Spurl • Yahoo MyWeb
Top↑

Comments

Xmas, It has always been a pleasure, a mixed pleasure, sometimes an pleasurable ordeal. For example -- eating. This is a pleasure and an extreme sport at holidays, and no holiday can compare with the grotesqueries of the end of year eat drink and be crabby and bitter. I approach the eating part of a holiday as an orgy in which only so many orgasms can be had. I train for the groaning board, I strategize, I use advanced tactics . . . imagine if you will one of the mile-long Las Vegas buffets. How can one eat everything that appeals. Difficult but not entirely impossible. I look forward to the Xmas feasts for those foods which are always on the shelves, but are rarely taken down: smoked oysters and mussels, tiny sweet onions, gherkins, pickled beats. Then there are the homemade traditions: the hot crab dip, the hot shrimp dip, the spinach and waterchestnuts, the fatty sinful pork stuffing for the turkey . . . without mentioning the sweets and the fancy cheeses and miniature rye loafs and 'creamed' corn . . . in my family we have special clothing for the meals -- we call them 'buffet pants.' They resemble pyjamas. They are pyjamas. I enjoy hearing of Xmas food poisoning, but only if it is mild and caused by leaving the stuffing sitting on the counter for three hours. Then the gifting. I feel as always like an observer peeking out through the eyeholes of an insanely smiling mask, rather sober and interested, but not full of hilarity. The best part of gifting is the shopping. I am one of those gay atheist men who love to make a special trip to the department stores and downtown centres on the eve of Xmas, even up until the stores close. I enjoy watching the frenzied, harried, desperate and bitten men who do their shopping at the very last minute. Their rage, confusion and bad taste is always so refreshing and pleasing to my cynical soul. I also feel spiritually refreshed at the waste of it all, a grand nation potlach, debt, garbage -- and the sometimes loathsome and insane holiday decorations in florist shops ( there is one down the street that I pass every day, a shiver of horror running through me as I view the monstrously fussy and expensive set-pieces and displays and sprays and general Martha Stewart on DMT awfulness of it all. The most memorable family Xmas was the year they shot Elena and Nicolai Ceaucescu on Xmas day. My family had very many jokes in bad taste, as you can imagine. The one towering, insistent goal of Xmas in my family is not to upset Mother or make her cry. We often fail, as she cries every day when she wakes up. And my special job is to soothe the frazzled nerves and expectations and murmur behind my mask at the insincere greetings and wishes of strangers and coworkers. The worst part of Xmas involves the grotesqueries of the post-Xmas season, the 2 am wakings to be 145th in line at the BOXING DAY BLOWOUT SALE at the electronics stores! the evil soporific of atrocious Xmas muzak . . . the demented newspaper editorials and special features of "peace and goodwill." I always have a special place in my heart for those who do volunteer work on Skid Row, delivering up a festive meal for the unfortunates in vast overheated feeding halls. I lay this aside the pinched scuttling hordes who hate the crowds and would step over a broken body to hurry home, lock the door, plug in the tree, bitch at the partner, drink too much rum and cry, "I fucking hate Xmas! Never again!" One final pleasure is viewing the rococo fantaisies of those who pay 600 dollar hydroelectric bills for their home displays, and whose neigbourhoods buzz with the lavish expression of pointlessness and competitive joymaking.

Posted by: William Scott Scherk | December 21, 2003 4:02 AM

How do you feel?

Feel free to share your feelings about How do atheists celebrate Christmas?. Please stick to the theme of the entry. Disagreement is fine. Homophobia, racism, and kindred expressions of hatred will be deleted. This site is one of my hobbies. I genuinely enjoy hearing from people and hate moderating or killing comments. Forthright disagreement is fine as long as it is civil.
My thanks,
Richard

Monthly Summaries

March 2007, February 2007, January 2007, December 2006, November 2006, October 2006, August 2006, July 2006, June 2006, May 2006, April 2006, March 2006, February 2006, January 2006, December 2005, November 2005, October 2005, September 2005, August 2005, July 2005, June 2005, May 2005, April 2005, March 2005, February 2005, December 2004, November 2004, October 2004, September 2004, August 2004, July 2004, June 2004, May 2004, April 2004, March 2004, February 2004, January 2004, December 2003, November 2003, October 2003, September 2003, August 2003, July 2003, June 2003, May 2003, April 2003, March 2003, February 2003, January 2003, December 2002, November 2002, October 2002, September 2002, August 2002, May 2002, April 2002, March 2002,

Recent Posts



Thematic Archives

Powered by
Movable Type 4.0

Syndication


Edifying Spectacle
Index
Richard Evans Lee
How do atheists celebrate Christmas?
Top of page