An Atheist's Christmas

I know, I know. It has been over a month since my last update. Life has gotten in the way of my "sit on my ass and blog" time. On a happier note, Christmas was awesome. Yes, there are atheists that like Christmas. I received money, itunes cards, clothes, food, and a Kindle 3. How could anyone not enjoy getting all that cool stuff?!?!?!
So how does an atheist celebrate the "Christian" holiday of Christmas? I cannot speak for all atheists but I can speak for this one.
Ever since I was a little boy Christmas has been about one thing, celebration of family. We give gifts to each other, we eat, we let everyone know how much we love them and try to be extra nice. From my experience this is how most families celebrate Christmas.
A lot of people don't know that the Christians were one of the last people to catch on to the holiday in winter. Christmas's origins can be traced back to the winter solstice and Saturnalia. Both Pagan holidays celebrated in late december. When Constantine made Christianity legal in 313 CE the Pagans were "urged" to adopt Christianity. Old festivals and holiday were given up and something had to take their place. This is when someone had the good idea to say Jesus was born in december and celebrated his birth during the same time as the Pagan festivals. Everyone wins as long as you ignore the fact that IF Jesus was real and the account of his birth is accurate then he would have been born in a warmer month and not at the end of december. According to biblical evidence (and I use evidence loosely when referring to the bible) Jesus would have been born sometime in September.
And for such a Christian holiday, there sure is a lot of mention of Santa ,Yuletide, and Christmas trees. Yuletide comes from the Scandinavian holiday Jul or Yul. Since Santa seems to be the main focus of Christmas we can throw the whole Jesus is the reason mess out the window and Christmas trees have their origins in Paganism. So tell me again why this is a Christian holiday?
I enjoy Christmas. I believe most people do. It is a holiday that has been commercialized and profited from but it is still a fun time. You don't have to believe in a magic God or a man hanging from a cross to enjoy spending time with loved ones and exchanging gifts.
Now it is time to go read my Kindle 3!