I’m not a religious man*,  so an obvious question would be why do I celebrate (and love) Christmas?

First off lets get the “Real” meaning out of the way. Christmas (for me) is not about the birth of Christ, if it was it would be celebrated at the time he was actually born rather than merged with an already existing Pagan celebration**. However please don’t think I am in any way looking down on people who do see it as such, I have no problem with any faith or religion and it’s not my place to judge.  What does bug me however is people trying to claim that the real meaning is lost, because basically Christmas means different things to different people.

For me Christmas is about making it through another year. It’s about spending time with loved ones, treating yourself to food and drink you may not normally have, it’s about meeting up with old friends and making new ones and it goes without saying it’s about exchanging gifts, in short it’s a celebration of life.

We don’t get a lot of time on this rock, and life here can be pretty harsh. I for example have had a pretty crappy year*** so the fact I made it through with my family and sanity in tact is worth celebrating. I’m looking forward to kicking back with my extended family, watching the Top Gear and Dr Who specials and getting pleasantly full on festive cheer. Oh yeah, and I’m looking forward to seeing their faces when they open the gifts I got them, and hopefully getting some cool stuff myself. 

Everyone is more pleasant to each other around this time and that is another thing this holiday is good for. Sure people get crabby because of the weather and having to face over-crowded shops but they do so with a smile on their face and a huge amount of goodwill to others in the same boat (for the most part anyway).

So yeah, it may not be about Jesus specifically but the spirit of peace on Earth and Goodwill to all men is well worth celebrating……

…..And of course it’s my Birthday on the 30th so that’s another reason to celebrate 🙂

So in conclusion the old joke about having a Happy non denominal celebration period is strangely accurate, because for me, Christmas is whatever the hell you want it to be.

Merry Christmas all.

*I used to be, but that’s a story for another time.
**Again a blog for another time but feel free to do a bit of research. Start with the Bible because it proves my point for me.
*** to paraphrase the great Billy Connolly, don’t feel sorry for me there are people who have it a lot worse than I did.