Bring on the Holidays

I visited a garden store today and was overwhelmed by the beautiful trees and cut garland and boughs and red twigs and fragrant plant matter and big bows and shiny things of all kinds.

It's the winter holiday season! Although I'm neither Jew nor Christian, I love the December holidays. The secular rituals are great and the revelry is divine (did I actually say that?). 

The evangelical PR machine is also making its annual holiday appearance, reminding the public that JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.

Oh, give me a break.

Now, I'm not going to link you to the scholarly sources that explain the various ancient festivals connected to winter solar activities and farming calendars. This information is readily discovered--heck, look it up on Wikipedia. But, dear rationalist friends, do not let the religious keep you from having as much fun and sharing as much joy and happiness as you wish this season.

So go ahead: put up the lights, bring gifts to the needy, let your kids know the singular joy of Santa Claus (unlike religious instruction, a parental lie I support enthusiastically), throw a party for your friends and neighbors. Do not apologize for "co-opting" someone else's religious holiday--your holiday was there first. 

Wishing you peace and beauty and the return of the sun!