Happy Heathen Holiday

Last week, as I wandered into Peet's, I noticed that they had added their list of holiday flavors. I immediately began hopping up and down and chattering endlessly about my excitement to my friend who, quite frankly, looked a little bit frightened.

But I couldn't help it-when Peppermint Hot Chocolate appears on the menu, it only means one thing: Christmas is coming!

I, like all sane people, absolutely love Christmas. I've been listening to Christmas music since August, cutting paper snowflakes since September and talking incessantly about the holidays for the past month. I love Christmas, and I always will.

As an atheist, I view Christmas as a completely secular holiday, which seems to upset some people.

"Christmas is the quintessential religious holiday," they inform me with a stern look. "The only reason that you enjoy this time of the year is because you are a product of a capitalist society and plain materialism."

Usually, when people confront me with such overly pretentious religious comments, I either will brush it off with a polite "that's-your-opinion-but-can-we-change-the-subject" phrase or I'll get pissed and say something vindicating to their smug faces.

Not in this case. When people wag their fingers at my secular views and materialistic ways, I simply smile and say, "You're absolutely right!" Then, I skip to the mall to buy some ridiculously overpriced but deliciously holiday-scented Yankee candles to get myself further in the Christmas spirit.

I can't help it. What's so bad about loving a particular time of the year, even though I have absolutely no religious ties to the holiday? I know it sounds bad that while many others are celebrating the birth of their savior, I am merely bouncing along to Nat King Cole and dressing up in cable knit sweaters, but honestly, I don't feel like it's a big deal.

Sure, the origins of the holiday lie in the Bible, but I feel like it's safe to say Christmas is a secular holiday for a huge number of people. Take my adorable mom for example-for the longest time, she thought that Christmas was the celebration of Santa Claus's birthday.

I agree with Stephen Colbert (or, as I like to call him, Loverboy Colbert): There is a war against Christmas. People complain that Christmas is an overly commercialized and meaningless holiday. While I agree with the fact that it is overly commercialized, I certainly don't think that it's meaningless. If that were true, then where do all these warm and fuzzy feelings come from?

There's something about cuddling up in an oversized blanket, sipping spiced apple cider and then turning on some cheesy romantic comedy with a Christmas backdrop that just always manages to lift my spirits.

As for it being an overly commercialized consumerist holiday, I completely agree. I remember the time that I proudly told my friend that I was off to do some post-Thanksgiving Black Friday shopping, and she looked at me in disgust. "How can you give into consumerism like that? All stores do is throw worthless products at us, and everyone starts acting in a crazed mob!"

"Yeah, but look at all the great deals!" I replied while shaking that week's newspaper ads in her face.

Black Friday is a pretty crazy day, during which irritable people only running on the energy produced by the prospect of discount merchandise roam shopping malls for Christmas presents. An elderly woman once pushed me in an Old Navy because she thought I was trying to snatch the last pair of reindeer-printed socks.

Still, I always have a great time, even if half of it is spent fending off crotchety grandmothers. Just the act of being in a crowded and fully decorated shopping mall brings back all those great, nostalgic Christmas memories.

I love that starting in November, the usually annoying soft-rock radio channel that my parents listen to starts playing Christmas music. I love that Starbucks starts using their red cardboard cups to hold their spiced lattes. I love that as the weather turns colder, we can start wearing scarves, mittens and knitted sweaters with colorful bobbles at every angle.

And for the people who still say that for nonreligious people, Christmas is a completely meaningless holiday, I'm going to have to disagree and make my point with a little cheese (and not in the form of Gruyere).

I may not celebrate the holiday for any historical religious moment, but it is still one of the most important days of the year for me. While some of my favorite parts of Christmas are definitely the aroma of spices and cheerful holiday tunes, truly, the best part of the entire thing is being at home with my family.

I know, gag me with a candy cane.

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