I just wondered. Pagans don’t have a totally lonely time because most Christian holidays were stolen from pagan celebrations. I mean the Winter Solstice (celebration of birth of the baby Son God) is around December 21. Pagans decorated and gave gifts, feasted, etc. I give everyone gifts and say “Happy Yule” as I hand it .
Here in the US we observe an amalgam of modern and international seasonal holiday traditions, but mostly we eat.
Get drunk, eat too much and watch tele, just like everyone else.
I enjoy time with the family, and I participate in giving gifts. I just ignore the mythical side of Xmas.
The same always. Eat, play monopoly, sorry, life, other games I enjoyed as a kid only with my 2 nieces and nephew.
Gotta love those capitalist cisgender board games we played as kids like Monopoly, Careers and Life! I too played Sorry! and Clue, and even remember playing Landslide where the Republicans were blue and the Democrats were red. My kid sisters and I especially loved the French card game Milles Bornes. Those were the days, indeed!
@p-nullifidian Sorry!! And Monopoly were always my faves. My two nieces aged 26 and 23 love Sorry also!!. Atari was another big one with me.......Adventure, Space Invaders, Asteroids, the like. But those board games are timeless, I remember playing them with my grandparents as well back in the 70’s and 80’s. Thanksgiving, Xmas will always be our days for those and even on Sunday afternoons and evenings to this day!!!
It's a good thought of sharing and caring not the religion
Totally true!!
During our dark Alaska winters many of us celebrate the Winter Solstice and the returning warmth of the sun ...or sometimes I observe Saturnalia a Roman celebration of feasting and gifts when social norms were reversed and masters would serve their slaves...
So you are not atheist, you’re Pagan
@SocialDarwin - nope it's all baloney but I enjoy observing Norse recognition of the changing seasons and a rare Roman feast celebration...
Non believers eat, drink and be merry.
For tomorrow we die!
Honestly, pretty dull stuff. Eat too much. Drink too much. Irritate the family with gawd-awful Bob Rivers xmas songs and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but, since you asked, I think it'd also be a lot of fun to create what would likely be regarded as the most inappropriate/insensitive seasonal display for the front yard, with the center piece being a reimagined nativity scene. Maybe some of you could help me out with this next part, as I might need some help distinguishing between the, otherwise central figures, and the 3 wise men. In addition to the usual farm animals, I'd have the wise men represented by Dawkins, Hutchins, and Darwin standing watch over a serene, angelic spaghetti monster, over which would hang an energy drink can (Rock Star, naturally). I'm guessing the typical passerby probably wouldn't recognize some of the other figures on display, but I'm thinking Sam Harris, Michael Schermer, and Daniel Dennett, to name a few.
Don't forget your shepherds
German Shepherd, Australian Shepherd , Cybil Shepherd
Sounds like a lot of work and fun.
Yup, Winter Solstice for me. I’m not Pagan, but love celebrating the shortest day and change to lengthening days.
I do the same thing I do every Sunday and other religious holiday celebration. Enjoy a peaceful day doing what I want with people I like - totally guilt free
This year got my family all to donate to charity in lieu of gifts....waaaaay less social contact, (no shopping, mailing, touching "foreign" stuff)
We are all older & need nothing anyway.
The dogs will enjoy their presents in the morning, plus mine to me. (The bigger-screen 4K OLED is already installed)
Going to buy myself something lovely for dinner on the 25th...Thanksgiving I roasted a duck. I think a lobster this time......
So, the answers I see reinforce two things I always knew about human nature:
Even our calendar makes us practice Abrahamic law by default
The stuff atheists practice by default are the pagan/secular aspects of the Christmas holidays, not the ones actually associated with Christ or the scriptures. I doubt you will see an atheist with, say, a nativity scene on the lawn. Trees, gifts, colored lights, candy canes, etc. are not "Christian" rituals.
@editor20
But we all take Christmas Day as a holiday from work
I'm not convinced of the interchangeability of 'atheist' and 'pagan,' but then I'm also a nullifidian.
What’s nullifidian?
@SocialDarwin A person without faith or religious belief.