I'm not Christian, and we spent the day celebrating Christmas. Christmas doesn't have Christian origins, so I really have no problem removing the Jesus part that wasn't supposed to be there originally. I'm not pagan either though, so I guess we just do it because it's fun. :)

I disagree, traci.....I'm not sure how you get that "Christ's Mass" has no Christian origins. Perhaps you are referring to the time of year? Yes, the celebration at this time was to counter the solstice celebrations (as far as I understand it), and it is indeed a conglomeration of many different things. but to say it isn't supposed to be there in the first place....not sure I agree with that. People pick and choose various aspects of how they celebrate, and that's fine, btu don't say it dioesn't belong there.

Merry Belated Christmas! :)

We had a really fun day. The kids didn't wake us up too early (got to "sleep in" until 7:30). We had fun opening presents and playing games with the kids all day. We watched some TV and relaxed in the afternoon. Then had a really nice Christmas dinner with my in-laws and played some more games.

We also got some snow around noon that stuck for a little while. Then the snow turned to rain, then back to snow again. So this morning there was a bit of ice on the roads. But no trouble driving to work.

This Pagan celebrates Christmas (Yule).

Intentionally making this a separate post.

One of many interesting reads on the topic. My two cents on the topic is that Christians took their own beliefs and massaged the timing and specifics to make the conversion of Pagans to Christianity a bit easier. How much is Pagan and how much Christian is open to some interpretation.

And the Pagans can't really claim origination on celebrating the holiday. Alex has posted on this in the past, but I cannopt readily find that at the moment.

Yep, the name not withstanding, Christmas has it's origin in pre-christian religious traditions (just like Easter).

On a side note....

On Christmas day my daughter asked "How did they celebrate Christmas eve before Jesus?"

I don't have any probs saying "Merry Christmas"... on Christmas Day, Christmas Eve... Saying it for the entire month of December is not my thang. Saying it in October and November is right out.

Of course, the answer is, "very carefully."

What about it does belong there? Jesus wasn't born in December. The Christmas tree has pagan origins. Other than the name there are no associations with Christianity at all, as far as I know. Though it may have had a different name (and be a bit different than the modern holiday), the holiday itself predates Christianity. I've heard the explanation that Kevy offered before as well. To the best of my knowledge, the early church took a pagan holiday and tacked on Jesus to get more conversions.

That's not to say that I don't think Christians should celebrate Christmas. Whatever makes you Merry is alright with me. It just strikes me as funny when people ask what non-Christians do on Christmas. I don't even consider it a religious holiday in the least. If you do, and that works for you, then that's great. :)