I celebrate the reason for the season(s), axial tilt. I figure the best way to do this is to drink copious amount of alcohol until I, like the earth, start to tilt and end up more or less wandering around in an oblong-ish circle, orbiting some larger mass like a couch, TV, table full of food/drink. Also, makes me a bit jolly.

I would ignore the religious side of it, and use these sayings "Tis the season for reason", merry winter solstice, reasons greetings, happy winter solstice, and spend alot of money if I had alot.and stuff some stockings with atheist books and videos.

I wish people a Merry Yule or Solstice, depending on my mood. I decorate my apartment with mini Yule trees and drink eggnog. I buy one gift for the gift exchange at work. I really like a very calm, peaceful holiday.

It all originated as celebrations of the return of the sun in the northern hemisphere anyway.

We call it, "A tradition" and a good reason to get the family (what's left of it) together. Nobody bakes a birthday cake for Jesus.

I just enjoy the good and getting together with family and friends and ignore all the religious aspects.

Us guys us gals do whatever we please 365 & .26 days per year....looks like you want to save money not buying shitty little toys for all your favorite cousins nephews nieces....so don't.....xmas is sometimes fun bullshit like Halloween....beware Easter boy bunnies laying candy eggs on dogshit lawns.....Festivus was invented by Seinfeld and Kwanzaa is an invented American celebration of certain African ideals......go ahead and cut a tiny Solstice Conifer or dig a little one into a pot and grow it in your place...make decoration with popcorn needle&thread....arrange xmas lights onto a board in the pattern of the American Atheist ORBIT symbol and put it in your window....have fun and don't lie to Virginia THERE IS NO Santa claus....get along and say PastaFarian Greetings to the REASON4the SEASON delusionals

No religion is require to celebrate any holiday. It is a day to exchange gifts with family and friends.

I love Christmas! I just leave all the religious stuff out. I have a real tree, a grinch doll for my angel, no creche just a Norman Rockwell light up town. I love the movies, the cartoons just about everything.

The christians co-opted most of the fun stuff from other cultures that were observing Solstice.

It is a fun time.

Other than watching old black n white versions of "A Christmas Carol", the original "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", and "The Charlie Brown Christmas", I don't really pay much attention to it.

I mostly ignore it. I don't decorate. I switch to a radio station that does not play much xmas music. My "usual" station starts playing it 24/7 next week. My concession to the season and the grand children is to make a xmas tree quilt that I do need to finish very soon. That is seasonal as well as useful. My family does a gift exchange, and we will get together on xmas day for the holiday celebration as well as granddaughter's birthday.

I don't celebrate Xmas much, but I like this joke:

"Celebrating Xmas without believing in god is like having sex without wanting children. You do it because it's fun!"

I just do Christmas old American style. We are not dwelling in deep theological issues on it, the tree is pretty and smells nice, it makes my kids happy, and of course we all love presents. I don't care how silly it is, and as far as Christmas greetings, I don't think about it -- I do know that when I am talking to people who speak different languages I try to give greetings, thank yous and such in their language, especially if they are equally polite. As long as a Christian is going to be polite to me, I will be polite back.

Do my best to ignore it.

I celebrate it. the decor and spirit of it don't bother me. i mainly enjoy it for the christmas dinners and the cooler weather. honestly, we'd be celebrating something else in the winter if it wasn't already christmas. i think people need something to look forward to at the end of the year.

I tend to agree along the lines of most here that I personally quietly enjoy the time with friends and family, eating drinking and being merry. Sure.

But all the social conventions and crazed hub-bub around it - that is taxing. I don't do cards (and expect none), but have lost an acquaintance over it. She felt snubbed when she didn't receive a card from me, though we saw each other regularly throughout the year. Differing priorities, I suppose.

Maniacal shopping, competing schedules and events, feeling gross the next day after too much eggnog, the lights, the sights, the noise. I really don't have the patience for all that.

And being in NYC, the tourists. Floods of them, like army ants, getting in the way while the rest of us try to get somewhere...

So, I deal with the conventions as best I can and feel relieved right after New Years.

Climbing into the tree and knocking ornaments off it is a load of fun, though.

I generally take advantage of any extra pay over Christmas by working the Xmas shifts.

I say happy holidays (work retail so I have been dealing with christmas since freaking September). I use to go somewhere (travel) but my dad is getting older so I cook for him & friends (that is my gift).

solstice party

I put up tons of secular decorations,play my "music box" holiday CD's, cook a big dinner, stuff my face.
Give family subscriptions for goats, chickens, whatever from Heifer International, donate to the Food Bank & Heat Bank in town. Tis the season to be giving!

I ignore the religious mythology. I do participate in gift exchanges and enjoy time with the family. If anyone starts a discussion on the mythology side of it, I excuse myself and go to the bathroom.

When I had Kids I did Yule, so they did not feel disenfranchised from the overarching society. As they grew I utilized the holiday as a teaching tool for world religions, none of which I practiced.

With the nest empty I do nothing, but I do exploit the sales after it for things I or my family might need.

Avoidance.. Now that I’m no longer responsible for raising children, or participating in such stuff with in-laws, it’s become ‘me time.’ No seasonal cards, decorations or party attendance … but a strategic focus on natural occurrences in natural settings ..and getting myself into some of that.

My now young adults will check in on the Winter Solstice (the reason for the season), as that’s what we’d focus on back in the day, but society appears oblivious.. It’s nothing more than ‘so many shopping days,’ to most. And though I’ve attended events on the Solstice, most settings and participants are drenched in C-mess regalia with conversations centered around ‘where are you going for C-mess?’

Back home, it’s prettymuch radio-silence to avoid the hype. But, I’ve gotten good! Yup, Nature pulls me through! Family knows to leave me alone. I’ll get gardens tilled, oil changed, trees pruned, leaves raked, taxes started, letters written, music blasted, beer drunk, ice cream disappeared, movies watched, streets walked and people avoided

...then it happens.. Happy New Year - and back to fuckin normal! I’m thrilled, everyone’s depressed, the days are ‘getting longer’ and Spring’s on it’s way … another trip around the Sun

I don't do xmas at all! Its another day for me and my family is good with it! I will go to a social event with my friends, But I rather work on that day!

I don't care about Christmas any more. When I get an invitation to have a meal with friends, I go but I don't care any longer. Last year I worked and I'm scheduled to work this year.