10 feet of evergreen cheer

So right now I'm sitting on the couch with a large dog next to me, staring at the christmas tree. My eggnog is on the side table, resting on a book of cliches. What a scene.

However, I'm wondering what I personally am celebrating. I'm not christian, and was never raised one, though my father and sister are. My mother and brother are atheists. Yet look, a christmas tree in our living room. I will admit to chuckling when seeing the star on top of what is an adopted pagan symbol, but the convulted history of christmas or even modern christian symbolism hardly takes away from the holiday's religious nature. It's right there: 'Christ's mass'.

I think it should be obvious to everyone that saying I celebrate that aspect of the holiday is erroneous, and perhaps a bit offensive--both to myself and those who celebrate it as a religious holiday. So what's a christmas tree doing in my living room? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. That's just what is done around here, but my christmas is undoubtedly secular, a celebration of goodwill and the spirit of giving. It's no coincidence that charitable donations shoot up this time of year, though who can resist that charming salvation army santa claus. I don't believe in the birth of Jesus, but I do believe goodwill, forgiveness, and the importance of community celebration. I don't see a problem with celebrating that, whether it be christmas, kwanzaa, or festivus. I'm one of those people that say 'happy holidays', because that's what I wish for them. Whether it's mass, lighting the menorah, or having a break from work/school, enjoy it.

Before I move in, a little side note here. Every time I drive past the Knights of Columbus billboard near boundry road that says "keep christ in christmas", I feel the need to introduce that organization to the greek language. Now, we could have an argument about the secularization of christmas as a whole, and I think you know where I stand, but I'm refering specifically to the term 'xmas'. The greek term for christ, angliziced as 'cristos' begins with the greek letter 'chi', which is essentially 'x'. The letter 'chi' in greek, or 'x' in latin became a shorthand for 'christ' by monks who were looking to save space before the invention of cheap paper. It's not some conspiracy, ok?

This is parallel to kung fu in many ways, which sprang out of a buddhist tradition and is inextricably linked with it, along with confucianism and daoism. Now, one doesn't have to subscribe to any of these to be in kung fu, or reap the rewards of its philosophy. One has to understand it, true, but that's not the same. I've read the Bible, the Qu'ran, the Sutras and many other religious texts, and I found great wisdom in all of them. I learned from each in a different way, but don't believe any. I'm sure many of you have benefited from the philosophies of the cultural foundation of kung fu, but that doesn't mean you're all buddhist.

So let's all relax, I say. Let's believe what we believe, celebrate whatever is religiously or conventionally relevant to us, and be nice to each other. It's your own business what christmas means to you and I don't really want to hear about it. It's cold out, there are pretty lights everywhere, and life is a lot easier if we're looking out for one another. So celebrate christmas as a religious holiday, celebrate it as a secular one, or don't do it at all--no skin off my nose. I'm just tired of all this pointless arguing, people on both sides of the fence using a simple holiday to further a social agenda. It's the holidays, so drink your eggnog and think about how good life is.