What are you celebrating this Christmas?

Yesterday I posted a question on my Facebook Status, asking why it is that someone who does not believe in Christ would celebrate Christmas. I became perplexed by this question two weeks ago while at my Doctor's office. For those of you who do not know, I see a Pain Management Doctor to help me manage my almost 9 years of chronic pain as the result of a herniated disk in 2001 and a failed back surgery in 2002.

Each month when I see my Dr. we usually do some small talk while he is writing out my prescriptions. In one of my first visits with him back in August I asked him what he knew about a particular Christian school we were considering for Kyle. He chuckled slightly and said, "I wouldn't know, nor would I want to...I'm agnostic" He then went on to tell me about the several charter schools in the area and how they worked better for them as they were secular. He finished by telling me that even though the Charter school that his son and daughter go to is secular, that the vast majority of the kids going there are Christian. (our general area is known as the bible belt of our southern state...so that did not surprise me) Not knowing what my belief system was he continued by describing that he wishes that those "darn Christian kids" would just keep their mouths shut around his kids. He told me that his son had just had a fist fight with a kid after they debated whether Christ was the son of God or not. In conclusion he went on to tell me that he and his wife have told their kids that they do not need to follow or believe in a fictional character like Jesus and that they should always stand their ground when other kids are talking about Jesus at school. I just sat there listening and nodding, offering nothing in response. I took my prescription, said good bye and left. As I drove home that day, I gave a lot of thought to this new Dr. of mine, and a lot of thought to his kids....

My next few visits went by without mention of his agnostic beliefs. He did ask me what school we chose for Kyle and we briefly discussed the Charter School we had chosen. This month however, as he was handing me my prescription I said, "Merry Christmas" and then said..."uh, I mean Happy Holidays" remembering he was agnostic. He then told me that it was fine to say Merry Christmas to him because just because he did not believe in Christ did not mean that he and his family did not celebrate Christmas. He proceeded to tell me about his tree and what his kids wanted for Christmas. I only smiled and left. By the time I got to my car, I found myself feeling very, very confused. I kept thinking to myself...."O.K., this guy has told me that he does not believe in Jesus and that he in fact thinks he is a fictional character...., yet he celebrates Christmas...what in the world?"

As the next week passed and I was shopping for gifts and people watching I couldn't help but wonder how many of the people that were at the mall shopping for gifts celebrated Christmas for the REAL REASON, the celebration of the birth of Christ. I began to realize that there were probably many people there that Christmas is nothing more than a tree, gifts and Santa Claus. To others, it might be a special time to get together with family or a time to give to the needy. All of these reasons are nice, but in my opinion they are celebrating something other than Christmas.

In fact it is not just MY opinion that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Wikepedia describes Christmas as "an annual Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ." Additionally, 90 percent of all Christmas songs refer to the birth of Christ. Wikepedia does go on to say that Christmas is widely celebrated by many non Christians. So again, I ask...why? If you are not celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ then you are clearly not celebrating Christmas. In my opinion it would be no different than if I suddenly started celebrating Hanukkah. It would make no sense. I don't believe in the Jewish faith, or in the reasons for celebrating Hanukkah, therefore I would not and I'm sure many Jewish people would agree that I SHOULD not celebrate it.

Growing up, we always celebrated Christmas as Jesus' birthday. In fact, my Mom would make a cake and we would sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus." At the time, we did not go to church on a regular basis and I definately did not have a relationship with Jesus. However, I did know that he was the "Son of God" (although it was not until I was 35 years old that I knew what that all entailed and what it meant for me) and that we were celebrating his birth as someone very special indeed. I thank my parents so much for being sure that we knew that the day was in honor of Jesus.

Perhaps another national holiday should be commemorated this time of year for those who don;t or won't celebrate Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ. Perhaps on December 24th this day could be called "Winter Celebration" or something like that. That would make more sense to me.

In conclusion I will ask again, "What are you celebrating this year? Is it Christ's birth? If your answer is no, than perhaps you should ask yourself what ARE you celebrating???