Smart Little Atheists

Hello friends,

Today I don’t have a solution for a problem for you. I don’t even think I can entertain a lot of people. I just have a heartbroken little girl and a question to everyone out there. Has anything like that happened to you?

What happened?

My daughter got in trouble at school. Not for fighting, not for cheating, not for any of the reasons I ever thought a kid could get in trouble for.

She got in trouble for telling the truth. This is her face when she got home. And this is what happened.

A girl came up to her and asked her to “tell the truth about Santa Claus”. Now, my little fighting princess is a scientist at heart. When she was five, she told me that she knew mom and dad were Santa, but she wouldn’t tell her older brother because he still believed. That said, she was wayyy more considerate than I could have been…

“If I tell you, you might not like what I say,” she says. “Sometimes people get sad when I do.”

“Tell me anyway,” her classmate insists. “Grownups don’t tell me the truth!”

So my daughter tells her that Santa Claus doesn’t exist and that the parents bring the presents and fill the boots (german/austrian tradition on december 6th). Her classmate runs to the teacher to tell on Fighting Princess – and she gets chewed out by the teacher for the incident.

Welcome to being an atheist, sweety. You did everything right and still got in trouble for it. Apparently being an A-SantaClaus-ist is good practice fo later.

She later told me that this wasn’t the first time. In her own words: “Mom, I had to she was THREATNING me! She said I had to listen to her or the toothfairy wouldn’t come. So I told her that the toothfairy doesn’t exist!”

She said I had to listen to her or the toothfairy wouldn't come. So I told her that the toothfairy doesn't exist! Click To Tweet

So, what do you do, what do you SAY to a kid in that situation? Has anything like that happened to your kids at school? Let me know! *pokes comment section*

 

I admit it, Christmas is a big thing in our family. I loved it as a kid, I still love it today. Delicious cookies, candles, lights, time for the family and traditional “Gemütlichkeit” – what is not to love about this?
But if you’ve ever been on social media around the winter holidays, you know all about the so called “war on christmas” and that only Jesus is the “reason for the season”.

So, we don’t belive in God, Jesus, the virgin birth and all that goes with it – why do we celebrate?

• Slowing down

  To me, Christmas and Advent are a time for slowing down. It gets dark so early, I love sitting down around our dinner table and play board games, drink some spiced apple juice and enjoy eachothers company

• Focusing on the Family

  My focus around christmas always goes to family and friends. We make the time to visit friends and spend time together. Singing together, sharing home made cookies – there is nothing inherently christian about this.Sharing food, light and warmth at the darkest time of the year predates christianity by a few millennia

• It was a pagan holiday first.

  It has been discussed so many times, I don’t think I even have to say it anymore. Most of our “Christmas”-traditions have been around longer than the church. People have always marked the solstices by celebrating!

• “God” can’t punish me for it

  Why should we NOT celebrate? No one will punish us for our blasphemic behaviour because the existence of god is so unlikely that it can be dismissed without further thought.

• Why should we miss out on all of the beautiful fun and silliness

  Kissing under the mistletoe? Eating good food with friends? Hanging up lights? Putting up a tree? An advent calendar? Presents? Music? Silly sweaters? Crafts and holiday cards? We can have is so much fun without the religious part of that holiday. Presents? Music? Silly sweaters? Crafts and holiday cards? We can have is so much fun without the religious part of that holiday. Click To Tweet

• Christmas songs are a great goodness
  

  I even watch the Country christmas special.

• Giving and receiving gifts is a lot of fun

  I love  home made crafts from the kids. I enjoy my husbands thoughtful gifts. I delight in finding the perfect craft, the best decoration, wrapping presents, and bringing joy to other people

• It is part of our cultural heritage

  Austria is a very catholic country. Christmas is basically unavoidable here. Even if we locked our kids up for the month of devember, we then would have to shut out the electronic part of the world, too. Every Computergame, every app will have a holiday special. Every movie, every TV show has a holiday episode. I do not want to keep my kids from that big a part of our culture.

• Upholding traditions from our childhood

  My kids may not get to sing in church at night (a tradition my mom and I had for many years), but there are many things that connect them to their grand parents and even thir great-grand parents. We eat fried fish and potato salad on christmas eve (austrian tradition), as their dad has done with his parents when he was young. His parents both did that as kids with their parents, too – so our three little monsters are connected to their ancestors.

• The moment the kids see the tree

  And this, most of all, is always worth all the efford. Dad takes the kids out to an indoor playground on december 24th and I get the day to decorate the tree, and make food. When they come back, the door to the living room is closed and will only open after dinner. So we eat dinner (the aforementioned fish and potato salad) fairly early. I go in and light the tree (real candles only on christmas eve – I dont want to light them later, when the tree is dryer) and ring a little bell. When they come in, their eyes are shining.
  This is why I do it all. Those shining eyes, and I get four sets of them! And yes, I’m counting my husband here 🙂

So we will continue to celebrate christmas.And enjoy it. And Stop apologizing for it.

How about you? Do you celebrate christmas, even if it isn’t part of your religion?