christmas is a money maker. that should be your answer.

the meaning of Christmas according to religious doctrine is defined by the name Christ Mass it has nothing to do with Trees or the fake Coca Cola red and white Santa who has largely replaced Krampus, if you want to celebrate the triumph of mass consumerism over celebrating the birth of the the Christian Son of God then by all means go out and buy stuff It's really up to you.

the solstice is way older than humanity

This time of year has always been referred to a religious holiday. The celebration of this so called Jesus birth.. Almost every song you hear during this time has some reference to Christianity. It's wrapped around a ton of materialism, commercialism, and religion on some level. The main stream general public will always look at this with some religious reference. Yes, it's pagan, yes it falls around winter solstice but its about the birth of christ no matter how you spin this. I don't believe this person was real, therefor, I don't have any part of this holiday. I don't partake in materialistic gift giving, buy into all the hoopla that goes with it. It's a tough time for many people, as they are put in a predicament to feel compelled to buy things they can't afford, get with family they don't want to see, there is a higher rate of suicide & depression during this time..it's just all around an ugly time of year. Kids are lied to about a fat man that comes down a chimney, trees are wasted and cut down solely for decoration even tho the so called bible says other things,we all know how contradictory it is. The only thing that this holiday is good for is that people get off work days to hang out with family if they choose to do so and some don't even want to do that. I am not here to judge anyone's reason on why or why not they buy into this but this is my take on it be it the norm or not.

Christmas is very popular with my family. It is a beautiful time to spend time with family & friends eating drinking and laughing, a time to think of others, and to be grateful for what you have. Dont need a religion for this.

Hmmm... good question. Lake Charles louisiana is a party town. They have something going on every month. Let's see. There's Mardi Graw. Then there's Controband Days. People boat in to dock here and just get crazy for a week. Then there's all the ball leagues come here to play. We got motels everywhere. Big business is in our towns with 3 casino's. Money everywhere. Loosing Christmas wouldn't hurt this town. They would make something else up to get people excited.

Even without religion, there is always reason to celebrate family, friendship, and good will.

It would still be celebrated in the US due to the money to be made by the corporations here.

I celebrate it, without the huge commercial spending, because it's the one time of year that the kids and I are off from school/work and can just be together, enjoying each other's company.

You can dump all religious references and lo and behold, you still have the Winter Solstice which is really the reason for the season. There were political reasons why christians picked this time of the year way back when.

I don't decorate or do much to outwardly celebrate on my own, I worked many Christmasses. However my kids like to do family celebrations and then there is the office stuff. I don't mind the non religious celebrations but I don't go out of my way to participate except with my kids. I don't really "celebrate" any holiday. I think if it makes you happy, I'm all for it. It makes me "happy" not to go to extra fuss and bother.

It is a wonderful holiday season and I would like to see it continue. I haven't associated Christmas with religion for a very long time. Whether the name remains the same or it is changed doesn't bother me. I would be very disappointed if we lost it as it is a nice time for family and friends to get together.

I still celebrate. There is much more rooted in the idea of the holiday season than religion. Celebrating those we love and enjoying good food and games can be rejuvenating to our spirit.