Re: Christian holidays . . . to celebrate or not to celebrate and how?
I was very much amused the other day when my daughter (6) was explaining to son (8) that she does not believe in God and Jesus, only Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy! :o
We celebrate Easter by allowing the Easter Bunny to visit and that is all.
Our last celebration was Mabon, Autumn Equinox; when we give thanks (this is a harvest festival) for any benefits we have received in the past year. Our next will be Samhain on 1 May; this is "Halloween" in the Northern Hemisphere but it is also traditionally a time of remembering our ancestors and "New Year" in a spiritual sense. This is when I make my new years resolutions.
This is the first year I am including the children in my celebrations; they are no longer in school (we homeschool now) and in any case I've not been "practising" as such for some time. I intend to establish traditions which they can incorporate into what is happening in the greater community. We will have a tree for Litha (Summer Solstice) at Xmas time, though it will be decorated with artificial fruit and other "natural" decorations.