Keep all the great stuff, just make Jesus optional.

It’s probably fair to say that most of what we do around Christmas at this point is only tangentially related to the birth of Christ. For most people, the 25th does not include a trip to church. In the home or lawn decor departments of your local big box stores, more light-up Santas and snowmen are sold than light-up nativity scenes. When people say, “the holidays”, they refer more to a season of giving, celebration with friends and family, and various ways to indulge in food and drink more than they mean to conjure up the arrival of a baby in a manger.

Why not make the break a clean one? Rename and reschedule and rebrand, whatever it takes to put the “War on Christmas” meme to bed. Let the Christians have their day to celebrate what’s important to them (thanks are due to them for getting these wonderful traditions kicked off!), but let’s move on as a culture. Make this thing bigger and more inclusive. Call it Winter Week (everyone gets more time off!), or Giving Day (there are still presents, and a general feeling of generosity in the air, we should definitely keep those things), but this way it’s not one group enforcing their values on the rest; it’s a fully inclusive, mutually agreed-upon, totally positive but non-religious event for all to enjoy.

Wouldn’t this be better for everyone, especially those not raised or currently part of a particular faith? Especially for those in other faiths who feel left out of Christmas?

Wouldn’t focusing on the giving and togetherness parts actually reinforce what we really love about the holidays?

Do we keep Santa or can we come up with even better icons of this new holiday?

Sometimes doing good is about as cringe-inducing as being wrong.

Like most human beings with an ounce of self-awareness, I generally think of myself as a good person. Not the best, not a saint, but mostly good. I suspect even people who are not that great on paper must at least be able to justify to themselves that they are not, on balance, bad.

Also like most human beings, there are other human beings that drive me nuts, who I wish would fundamentally change their behavior or beliefs because in my mind, they are hurting the world and dragging us down with them.

(An example, from my point of view: those who would defund Planned Parenthood, militant gun-rights advocates unwilling to discuss regulation or reduction, anyone who still behaves in actively racist or homophobic ways. An example from the opposite point of view: people like me who don’t listen to the Bible or Constitution and want to ruin what’s great about America.)

If both parties think they are generally right, and generally good, then someone must be wrong. They can’t both be equally right. So instead of taking sides, maybe some objectivity can come into play.

Imagine Person X believes strongly in Issue X, where Issue X is something you disagree with strongly. (pro-life vs pro-choice, gun rights vs gun control, marriage equality vs tradition, etc).

You think you are on the right side of Issue X, obviously, and by living in the world not being wrong, not perpetuating ignorance, and voting your beliefs every two or four years, you are doing good. Maybe sometimes you fill out an online petition or donate money.

Person X is, in your mind, totally on the wrong side of history here. They are actively hurting the world with their ignorance. But they do volunteer work every week for the community (through church, school, etc) that helps actual people on a regular basis, and are overall very friendly and generous. Just wrong.

Who is the better person?

Who is helping/hurting society more in the big picture?

Other than “you’re fatter”.

Running into former coworkers you haven’t seen in years, changing jobs or cities after extended periods of routine and complacency, those miserable years when a high school reunion rolls around to remind you of your mortality — there are these rare instances where you’re faced with thinking about how much you’ve changed, whether intentionally or without even realizing. A mini version of this happens around New Years every year, but widen the scale and it gets a little weird and frightening. Or impressive and exciting! I guess that depends on you.

How would people have described you 10 years ago, and how is that different from how they might describe you today?

What would be different if the person describing you, then or now, is someone that knows you well versus someone who just met you?

Which qualities do you wish you still had from the past? Which are you glad to have gained or lost since?