Kate and Christmas

I have said it before in this blog and I will say it again; I am an atheist. I’m not proud of it, nor ashamed, it’s just a fact concerning who I am. But even though I do not believe in God, I love Christmas. My love was spawned mostly in my childhood. My parents were very generous gift-givers towards my brother and me. One year we climbed out of bed practically in the middle of the night to rush into the living room and unwrap our gifts. My mother put a stop to that. After that, we had to lie in bed until 6AM. I think the main problem was; we almost caught them being Santa Claus.

I remember one Christmas Eve night, I had finally gotten to sleep and was in the middle of a dream when all of the sudden I blurted out CHRISTMAS! and instantly awoke. I glanced at my clock-radio and it was something like 6:20. Within ten seconds I was out of my bedroom and holding one of my gifts.

The Christmas when I was about 12 or 13 years-old was an odd one because I noticed that I had lost that wild-eyed excitement for Christmas and gift-opening. I still loved Christmas, but I had no trouble getting to sleep the night before, and I awoke at a somewhat normal time the next morning. I think it might have been maturity overtaking my fervor for Christmas, or at least my fervor for gifts.

A couple of days ago my boyfriend, Steve, and I assembled and decorated my fake Christmas tree. I did most of the work because I have a specific idea of how I want the tree to look, whereas Steve doesn’t care. I then spent an hour or so sitting on the floor, wrapping gifts for my parents and for my brother, Gary. I had wrapped Steve’s gifts before he came over. As I wrapped them I would place them under the tree. It actually looked kind of festive (note profile photo).

I’m tentatively planning on going to church the evening of Christmas Eve; not a normal activity for an atheist. I have a nearby Methodist church picked out. I have attended an evening Christmas Eve service before and I have always found it comforting.