What is Christmas to you? If you were raised a JW, as my children were, getting used to Christmas takes time, and does not carry with it any memories. For others who became JWs later in life, it took time to get over Christmas and learn to discredit the custom and lose feelings for it, and in some cases even learn to hate Christmas as an evil pagan evoluton of apostate Christianity.
The Watchtower overdramatizes the negative: The JW leaders teach that Christmas has pagan, Babylonian roots, that this makes it unfit for a Christian ... that Christmas was never commanded by Jesus to be celebrated ... it brings on problems with children when they learn there is no Santa Claus ... it causes financial stress for many families trying to afford the gifts ... the rude shoppers, shoving and pushing at malls ... the mad dash to get an "expected" gift rather than loving spontaneous giving ... the focus on materialism, etc. ... One would think that Christmas was invented by the Devil himself.
I learned to challenge this image: I grew up with Christmas and remember it fondly. I did not have a psychotic episode when I discovered there was no Sanata Claus ... when I asked my mother about Santa Claus, she told me it was a fantasy for little children ... and the fact that I was asking meant that I really already understood this ... I agreed.
I remember Hot-buttered Rums, songs, fun, good English food (Mum in-law), special pine smells from the tree ... the creative feelings of sharing in decorating the tree and house ... I remember the great turkey meals, and a time when the family was together more than at other times ... they were able to do this because it is a national custom. And great TV shows to break up the routine.
Shopping has always been fun ... and it is a time to show extra courtesy because people are out and about. Budget always dictated what I could do then and now ... and my family and friends understand this. Is there stress? Sure, as it would be in any situation in life ... how we deal with that stress can make or break the happiness. No different than the stress of preparing and traveling to a JW Convention ...
The Watchtower logic is flawed from stem to stern: ALL the reasons they give to NOT celebrate are wrong. For example, yes, Jesus never 'commanded' us to celebrate Christmas ... as he did not command much of anything ... but the real issue is that he did not condemn, prohibit, or even discourage celebrating Christmas ... and his birthday is spoken of gloriously in the Bible as a major and happy event ... not an event of chopping off peoples heads. It is a "GOOD" example of a birthday. Much more could be stated to illustrate Watchtower inane and ludricris teaching.
What Christmas can mean to you ... the ex-JW: If you continued to be Christian upon your exit from the JW world, you can learn that Christmas is not about gifts, office orgy parties, drunkeness, debt for gifts, or worshiping Beelzebub in full Babylonian (Iraqi) style. Rather, you find it can be a very special, fun, happy family time and a spiritual event ... so what makes the difference?
In the style of what Jesus and the Apostles taught is that we take a positive approach to life ... when confronted with the coin of tax, Jesus did not call Caesar a pawn of Satan to be resisted ... no, he wisely said to give what is Caesar's to Caesar and what is God's to God. Jesus style was to see things from both sides ... and the Apostle Paul used Greek culture to teach, rather than calling the Greeks a bunch of filthy worldly pagans. These are just some ways to look at this ...
If you are no longer Christian or even religious ... then Christmas is still a convenient time to get family together, and enjoy all the aromas, flavors, happiness and richness of being human. A time to change pace, relax, and take the precious time of our existence to make every moment count.
Then, what is Christmas really all about? Christmas is not about some satanic burden, or about some religious requirement, nor about all that is worng with the world ... Christmas is what you and your family and friends make it ... and it is an opportunity to make of it what is in your heart. God will not judge you either way, for as the Apostle stated, " ... all things are clean to a clean heart."
PS: I don't feel a bit of JW guilt ... that went out the very first year we celebrated.
Jim Whitney