Just go with the flow

Christmas is consistent with a culturally costly monetary commercial business propaganda to entice people to spend money they often don't have. In our Christian civilization the masses have been conditioned, mostly by upbringing, to the point of feeling obligated to celebrate Christmas based on a myth so that society can be controlled in perpetuation.

Just enjoy the secular part of Christmas and ignore the baby Jesus, star of Bethlehem, three wise men, virgin Mary nonsense.

My daughter and her kids live a couple of hundred miles away. I send her money in early December for their Christmas. Then I try and get through it. When my kids were little and living here, I went all out. Since my son's death in '01, my heart went out on the whole thing.

Eat, drink and be merry ....just like everyone else. It’s a holiday, I enjoy it, even the carol singing..especially the carol singing, as I’m a choral singer! We were an atheist household, even in my childhood, and we always celebrated Christmas with present giving and the usual festive cheer, why should we miss out on it?

A neighbor has a bonfire on winter solstice for people to burn shit from the previous year and drink his home brew (good stuff). If I manage to see family or some other event for Xmas, then alcohol is involved.

Barbecue with family, having fun with drunk uncles cursing on young cousins.
Gifts that spread chaos (noisy things, water guns or those merf guns to carry young members of the family and anonymous naughty stuff for the most religious members)

Same way I deal with Halloween even though I'm not wiccan. Just enjoy the pageantry and food and stay away from the churches. I give gifts to my family and friends, decorate my household, and have a few Christmas songs I like. It's just a holiday like any other, and each individual is free to choose what meaning they personally attribute to it, or what features they participate in.

I haven't liked xmus since I was a kid and had to go to church on my birthday (it's xmus eve and I was warped a catholick...)
I usually ignore the hype while enjoying the food (I love fish), but get disgusted by the overindulgence and marketing that capitalism pukes on us during the "holidaze"... sometimes I'll reply "hail Satan" to "merry christmas" just to piss off the fake ones... we Atheists know that neither the christ nor The Satan existed, and surely not some fairy tale cloud- floating fuck that likes to kill babies and collect foreskins as a hobby..... my 2 cents for the boatman's fare, coz imma going to hades, if it even exists....
....naw, it's just another fairy tale to scare children at night and to keep the people quiet so those in power might reap the benefit if exploiting an already oppressed populace.....

Traditional with my children and grandchildren - tree, presents,etc

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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!

solstice party

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).

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

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 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.

Do my best to ignore it.

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.

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 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.