Christmas and Me

I am an atheist and therefore I do not believe very much of the biblical Christmas story. If there were a Jesus -and that is possible- he likely was not born in a manger in Bethlehem. It makes for a good story, but it’s just as likely that he was born in a tiny rented room, or even a fairly large rented room. A manger sounds good because we like our various saviors, heroes, etc., to come from modest means. It is also highly unlikely that there were wise men, shepherds, and so forth. Probably the most unlikely element of the story is that Jesus was born to a virgin. Virgins are considered pure and unsullied. In most religions, virgins are highly prized. It was true back when the Bible was being written, and it’s true today, albeit to perhaps a lesser degree. Point is; there is a reason why Christian religions state that Mary was a virgin, and it’s not because she actually was a virgin. But to the bigger issue; there is no evidence that Jesus was the “son of God”. Truth is; there is scant little evidence that Jesus existed at all.

But despite the possible lack of religious validity, I like Christmas. We have home movies from Christmas 1957 featuring my three sisters and me when we were tiny kids. There was a hobby horse, a fire truck, a jack-in-the-box, the board game Candyland, not to mention various uninteresting gifts such as new socks and hair brushes.

One of those long ago Christmases, Santa Claus came to our door. He came right in and perched himself on our sofa. We kids were terribly excited. We all got to sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted for Christmas. Twenty years later I learned that the Santa was in reality my Uncle Wilber.

I think that once a person has really great Christmas memories, Christmas will more than likely be special forever. My mother and father are now gone but my three sisters and I get together and exchange gifts. About every other year we pull out the old home movies, now on video tape. These days some of the youthful excitement is missing, but we still have fun. 

So even if a person does not believe in god, Jesus, and so forth, that does not mean the person cannot enjoy Christmas. I could probably argue that I enjoy it more as an atheist than I did as a theist. As an atheist I do not feel guilty for not going to church on Christmas. Come to think of it, when I was a Methodist I did not feel particularly guilty either.