the wrong side of the bed

my family celebrates christmas in a very secular way. we buy crap for each other and eat too much and don't think about jesus or whatever. we celebrated halloween when i was a kid, and we get a bit festive about it still (i don't think that wearing orange to work today counts as actually celebrating). when i was growing up, i was taught the following:

christmas = jesus was born (but he was just some dude, not some saviour. it is really just a birthday party, not like a big whoop or anything. don't talk about it too much at school cuz some people believe it.)
halloween = dress up to scare away spirits so they don't getcha (but ghosts aren't real. this holiday is an artifact of when people believed in malicious spirits. some people still do believe in ghosts, so maybe better not talk about this one either.)
easter = jesus came back to life (yeah, right. but don't talk about it. just eat some eggs and be glad you have yet another excuse to gorge your self on sweets. besides, it is really a pagan holiday, not that we are pagans.)
thanksgiving = be thankful you have food (but don't talk about how native americans were treated throughout modern history. just eat your turkey and pretend things are rad. and be glad they are rad, even though you have something to be thankful for and other people have a lot less to be thankful for.)

so, yeah, they are all sort of religious. except for thanksgiving, which is religious for some people because they are thankful to god for food (rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub) and probably they are also thankful for family, even though i hear lots of people fight with their families on holidays.

anyway, weigh in, why doncha?

Labels: family, questions, religion