Reconcile?

I’m not really sure that I have yet to be honest, but I’m trying.

In December, someone had the audacity to say that Christmas isn’t a religious holiday anymore and that it’s now about spending time with family (and they continued, but I had already tuned them out). Um… excuse me? Are you crazy? I know you must be. It’s called CHRISTmas, not familymas.

I’ll be one of the first to admit that many a marketing department has done an amazing job of trying to strip religion from Christmas, at least in the US. But not in this household. Not happening Hallmark. And I won’t apologize for that either.

I’ve toyed with the idea of no longer giving gifts to those who do not celebrate for religious reasons. I’m still not sure that it’s not a bad idea for me as an adult, but it’s not the example that I’m going to set for my kids.

We tell Sparky that the reason we give gifts is because it is Jesus’s birthday and we normally give people gifts for their birthday. Since there’s a little bit of Jesus in everyone, then we get to give presents to everyone and we might get some too. That’s the shorter version, but needed to be repeated for anyone late coming to this post.

So, what would I be teaching my kids if I ignored the Christ in those who don’t believe in Christ? That’s pretty judgmental and what I consider to be a pretty bad example. So, for now, we’ll do gifts with the knowledge that we’re giving the gift to the Christ inside the person whether they recognize it or not.

Religion is a personal choice and I don't actually care what others choose. But, Christmas is a religious holiday and there’s no way around that. Sorry folks. No actually, I’m not sorry about it! I’m glad it’s a religious holiday! I’m sorry that some people are deluded enough to think that it’s not.