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For me, Christmas is about getting together with family, sharing a great meal, and showing our love for eachother by exchanging gifts. Putting aside everything else in the world to be with your family.

I'm not Christian so for me Christmas is about taking time to celebrate & appreciate family.

To me, at it's heart it's honoring the birth of our savior and that he will come again. I think remembering makes for a time to also focus on peace, family, and charity.

I don't have any problem with non-Christians celebrating Christmas, but I do think it's a little odd when people try to create an alternate "real meaning" of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not one of those "oh there's a war on Christmas!" - I realize it's become a secular holiday as well. I just think it's funny when I hear people talk about how it's "really about" something else (joy, family, sharing...). Like I would never come up with an alternate real meaning of Yom Kippur or Diwali!

@mrbee: I was going to say like Thanksgiving, but with presents!

@jedeve: I agree with you 100% !!!

@jedeve: Well, I was raised a catholic so christmas was a very traditional celebration in our home. Just because I don't believe in God now doesn't mean I don't find the tradition important. I never "made up" a reason to celebrate it though...

@jedeve: lol I never thought of it that way. I just think that people are so hung up on "tolerance" and not offending anyone...?

For me it's definitely the Christian aspect- Jesus being born and his miraculous conception/birth and about being thankful for the greatest gift He gave us..

The rest of the traditions stem from that one meaning; family, gifts, etc

@Adira: Yeah, I don't think Christian's celebrate it thinking it's the actual day of Jesus's birth, lol!! Just a day to recognize it. In Catholic tradition, part of the reason it's celebrated in December is that Jesus' birth represents light in the midst of the darkness of winter. So for me I always grew up knowing it was a symbolic date and incorporating the change of seasons in the natural world.

@.twist.: Oh don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem with people celebrating it who aren't Christian. Or having a different reason for celebrating it. I just think it's funny when people say "oh it's really about this..."

@jedeve: I actually have the opposite perspective! I had always viewed the holiday season as originally being from other cultures.... and then the Christian religion said, "Oh it's really about this..."

To me Christmas means a day/time to focus on family and taking care of one another (taking care of family, friends and society as a whole). I also think its a day to be thankful for what you have and celebrate your blessings, and also a reminder to help those who have less throughout the entire year so that they too may have a happier Christmas.

I am an athiest so I don't believe in God, Christ or any religious aspect.

A celebration of the love of Christ-showing love through kindness, gifts, sharing food, and gatherings.

We are Christians, but DH and I have chosen not to celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday since the origins are not Christian. I think the "takeover" of the holiday by the Christian church is odd, and not something I really want to participate in.

We celebrate Christmas as simply a wonderful winter holiday and celebration of the end of another year.

I don't want my children to confuse real/fantasy and to me the holidays have nothing to do with Christ in reality.

We celebrate Him all year, there is no need to celebrate His birth on a day that wasn't even His birthday. He never told us to keep Christmas in remembrance of Him, so we don't.
We will talk to our children about His birth throughout the year, not just in December.

So for us, Christmas means family, wonderful food, exchanging gifts and being thankful for the year that has passed, celebrating the end of another year and the coming of the new one.

P.S. We understand that other Christians don't see it that way (including our own parents and extended relatives) and that's okay. Our children will grow up in multiple cultures, so we will teach them the background of the holiday and why other Christians celebrate it the way they do. Hopefully they will view it as simply another culture's way of celebrating, and not be confused by it.

@mrbee: I agree. The holiday we now call Christmas is not Christian in origin. If anything, Christians are the ones who have "perverted" it from it's original form. And I think I can say that, since I'm a Christian. lol
Just because Christians celebrate it as a Christian holiday does not mean it really is one. See my response on the way my family celebrates Christmas above.

@mrbee: Sorry, I should have chosen another word.

I meant the second definition of the word - "Having been corrupted or distorted from its original course, meaning, or state."

I probably should have chosen another word that is clearer.

@mrbee: Well I didn't want to offend anyone either, and I realized from your comment that it might have been the wrong word choice on my part.
I just meant that Christians changed it, it wasn't originally "our" holiday. I get a bit bothered by the "Put Christ back into Christmas!" movement since He wasn't in it to begin with...
Non-Christians have every right to celebrate it in any way they wish.

@tororojo: I have no problems with Christians putting Christ into their own Christmas if that's how they choose to celebrate it. I have a problem with Christians trying to put Christ into everybody else's Christmas. There are many different religious (and non-religious) backgrounds in the USA, and everyone has an equal right to celebrate it in their own way.

I think the phrase "Happy Holidays" is completely appropriate, because it includes everyone - Jews, Christians, Muslims, and their individual holidays. Why do we have to make December only about our version of the holidays?

@tororojo: I agree, it would make more sense to call it something different. My husband and I have been discussing the possibility of calling it something else for our family (even though we are Christians we don't celebrate the holiday as a Christian holiday as I mentioned above). We still haven't come up with a good name though.

We celebrate Christmas as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. We give gifts as part of that celebration. We were taught as children that the wise men brought gifts to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus and that is why we celebrate with gifts. My husband and I carry on that tradition. Every year, our cards say Merry Christmas (and Happy New Year) and that will never change.

@tororojo: Some people prefer the word Xmas. But that doesn't really secularize the holiday, as discussed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

Wish I could convey what it is like to live in a culture where the dominant religion isn't something you believe in... but you grow up exposed to and embracing a lot of the traditions! I do feel bad though that the flip side of things sounds difficult too... Sorry to participate in secularizing the holidays!