I’ll be heading up to Green Bay in an hour or so, and I came across this slate article talking about how we shouldn’t feel ashamed as atheists celebrating Christmas. I can’t help but thinking how well Christmas (as it is celebrated today at least) actually does make a pretty good non-theist holiday: the tree, the lights (in the dead of winter), its coincidence with the winter solstice, traveling back to ones family. Of course, these are all pagan elements taken by the Christians; so I don’t see the secularization of this great holiday as the ‘destruction’ of it, as many Christians do. Rather, I think we are taking the holiday back; us pagans are merely celebrating what we created. We don’t need a God child. And heck, I even like those hymns; beautiful music inspired by an equally beautiful myth. So whether you believe in Jesus as savior or not, have a very merry Christmas!