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As I type there is snow falling outside the window. And I am listening to a lovely rendition of "In the Bleak Midwinter" performed by Corrinne May. Check it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC9C5kHL884 What a wonderful day to stay in and knit or craft! Or blog...

With Christmas approaching a friend and I are having a discussion on whether Christians should celebrate the holiday. The pagan roots of Christmas are well documented and so is the fact that Christ was not born on December 25. So, what do you do? Do you continue to participate in the festivities since it is now considered a Christian holiday or do you choose to refrain from because it really isn't a Christian holiday no matter how you try to reason away. We know from the OT how much God warned the Israelites to not practice any heathen rituals and I believe that the warning still holds true for modern Christians. In that light, Christmas should not have any place in a Christian home. That's right, no tree, decorations, presents or anything. This doesn't mean that you have to alienate yourself from family and friends that do keep Christmas as my friend assured me. On the other hand, if you hold to the reasoning that it is no longer a pagan holy day, though there are neo-pagans that do practice Saturnalia, then there is no problem. But what I wonder at most is for Christians that do realize the pagan root of Christmas why do we still celebrate it? Isn't that when it becomes a sin, when we know it's wrong but still do it anyway? Why not as a whole body decide to move our celebration of Christ's birth to the actual time of His birth? Now granted, it would not fall on the same day each year because the Hebrew calender is based on the lunar cycle, unlike our Gregorian calender which is based on the solar. Or even is it neccesary to celebrate Jesus' birth? We are not commanded to do so from the Scriptures, indeed the early church did not celebrate His birth. Nor even in early America was it lawful to celebrate Christmas.

Personally, I was raised with Christ as the center of the season. Never had Santa Claus. In fact, when I was a dinky do I told my grandma that Santa was a pagan. *laughs* She was shocked, needless to say. Instead, by using an Advent calender, I sat on her lap and read out the story of my Lord's birth. My family a few years ago stopped celebrating Christmas as Christ's birthday so we've already come halfway. Now we just enjoy the season of giving and as a European cultural holiday. Now as an adult I'm questioning the whole Christmas thing on all levels. Theologically, culturally, personally. What to do, what to think...