As Christmas time rolls around and the beginning of the Christmas season comes about again, the traditions and celebrations of Christmas arise. This includes celebrating Jesus’ birth, advent church services, lighting advent candles, decorating, Christmas crafts and traditions, and more. Many people associate Christmas with these specific things or the specific traditions they practice and celebrate themselves, but there is much more to Christmas than the traditions and themes we associate it with. As many people have heard countless times- Christmas is about more than just the gifts and typical thoughts of Christmas. It is about Jesus’ birth, the birth of our Savior and the son of God. 

The season of Christmas comes with much more than just gifts, games, and family time. There is a huge religious component and that is the whole reason for the holiday. Jesus’ birth is extremely important in the eyes of a Christian and should be celebrated as Jesus saved our sins by dying on the cross for us. His birth is important and we should celebrate it as we do with extreme importance. But the question arises- what about the people that aren’t Christians?

Many Non-Christians celebrate the Christmas Seasons and traditions as well but don’t view it as a religious holiday. Many non-christians that celebrate Christmas view it as more of a cultural holiday than a religious holiday. They celebrate by telling kids about Santa, putting up Christmas trees, making gingerbread cookies, etc… which are all non-religious aspects of this popular holiday. They also see this season as a time to get together with family and friends and as a time off work and school. 

So if these are all non religious ways to celebrate Christmas, how do Christians celebrate? When Christians celebrate Christmas, they put up a nativity set, read the bible, and more symbolic decorations. If Christians were to just celebrate for the religious aspects, they would only celebrate traditions that are strictly religious and nothing more. Most Christians celebrate with both aspects though, celebrating with a nativity, a Christmas tree, an advent calendar, Christmas cookies, etc… and combining the two together to celebrate.

Many non Christians have regard for others’ beliefs even though they don’t practice a specific religion themselves. Some atheists or non christians even practice some religious aspects to this celebration as a way of fully celebrating the holiday by even going to church with a friend to observe, being part of nativity things, and more even if they don’t fully practice a specific religious belief. This brings them a Christmas season to celebrate and practice certain traditions with others even if they don’t fully believe in a certain religion or practice religiously on a regular basis. 

So what does this mean? Christmas is obviously a major holiday for Christians and it is centered around a specific religious event. Many people choose to spend this holiday with family and celebrating even if they don’t fully believe in Christianity simply because they want to celebrate a holiday and do fun holiday things with family and friends. Just because not everyone celebrates Christmas for the religious aspect definitely does NOT mean it is not an important holiday for Christians. Christmas is certainly a very important holiday for Christians because it is celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. So in the end, Christmas is all about celebrating our Lord and Savior, but some people choose to celebrate differently or for other reasons.