Celebrating the season part one

Celebrating the season.....

 

 

Away in a manger..............

 

 

God rest ye merry gentlemen...............

 

 

 

Silent Night, Holy Night.........

 

 

Christmas is almost here. My mixed feelings on this holiday make it one of the toughest holidays to celebrate in a way.  Growing up as a strong Catholic,  Christmas was always something special. We went to church, did all the stuff that goes along with being a Catholic at Christmas time, including the candles and all of that. I remember standing up with my class choir singing some of the above songs.

 

But as an adult I sit and wonder......what really happened?  Many people have said that Jesus was not even born at this time of year and have proof that shows the truth.  I know that people make think I am a follower when I say that I believe them. But there are many things that point the way to the truth.  So why is it such a big deal in regards to his birth being celebrated? His birth isn't even in the Bible!  Something as important as the virgin birth isn't even located in the bible. WHY?

 

The answer really is simple. Many can't understand....they believe what they have always been told and they don't question those answers.  But I believe what happened was that Christianity was becoming the new growing religion. People were becoming followers by the hundreds. They were flocking to the one they called Christ. Hearing stories of his healings and his preaching.  I think rulers at the time seen a political step that would change the world forever.   I believe that at the time, the leaders did setup the holidays of the Christian church to sync with the old religious paths of those living in the regions they were taking over.  Spring Equinox and Eostoer became Easter. Samhain became All Saint's Day.  Yule/Winter Solstice became Christmas.   This made transforming those who were practicing with the ways of the Earth to easily transition over to Christianity without really changing many things. The times of the year stayed the same, and some of the practices even came with it.  Yule log is not a Christian item that came with Christmas. A yule log came with Yule. I mean duh... how can you get more plain than that? 

 

Most traditions of any major Christian holiday was some how passed down from other religions. They added in their story of Christ and made it their celebration. 

So for me celebrating Christmas turned from a religious holiday to a commercial celebration. We buy the tree and decorate the hosue. I send xmas cards and enjoy christmas music.  I bake lots of goodies for friends and family. We have multiple gift giving celebrations where we eat lots of yummy food and enjoy family. We tell the kids about Santa and let them play in the fantasy of that.  But we don't bring up the birth of Christ. We don't celebrate him at all in our house. We are not Christian. I will not explain any of this until the children are a bit older. I do not believe in shoving religion down children at a young age. I believe at 4 and 6 their minds are not developed enough to understand faith and religion.  In a few years when their friends at school start going to church and talking about it, then we will sit and talk about our religious choices and what the kids want to do. If they chose to attend a church service or class with a friend, I will allow it so he can learn. But I will not stand by and watch them change my son by sending him messages that he can be "saved".  There is no such thing as saving someone. You can change their mind, you can help them through tough times. You can save a person from destroying their life, and maybe that is what people think when they use that term. Maybe they are in a dark place unsure of what to do and they are brought to faith and religion