Christmas This Year As An Ex Was...

[SWIM]

I chose 6. Went totally great, no xtian sermons from anyone, we all got along great, got good gifts. My youngest daughter stayed with up from pensacola, which made me very happy as I missed her. The other one had to go to miami with her hubby, so that sucked, but all in all it was a great xmass!

[Sparrow]

Been an ex-christian and athiest for a while now so I've had a number of christmases without the bullshit already. Saw the people I wanted to see and spent it with the people I wanted to be with. No religious discussions at all and no one was deliberately trying to avoid it. It's been ok.

 

Must admit though that I've always found christmas tedious anyway. Whilst I wouldn't say I'm in anyway "Bah, Humbug" about it, I honestly find it all a bit bothersome.

 

Spatz

[godlessgrrl]

We went to visit my folks in the city. The drive wasn't bad, but it was somewhat longer than normal. It was snowing when we started out but cleared up by the time we got closer to the Narrows Bridge.

 

Visits with my family are always a bit tense. I have to be kind of fake and keep my guard up, not because of any religious shenanigans, but just because my relationship with them is kind of shallow. There were about a dozen family members there, some great food, lots of champagne, and everybody got decent gifts. Mostly though I went so I could see my grandma, my sister, and my new niece. I actually made my niece laugh and giggle by bibbling at her and making weird noises with my cheeks. It's so great because I'm not the new mama - HA!! So I get to hold the baby and sing Irish drinking songs to her and give her back to mama and papa when she fusses. Teehee!

 

I always find holidays very draining though. The travel, the chaos, the general upheaval, and I don't do terribly well with being around a bunch of intense people for very long. Plus we had to bring our dogs, because they'd gotten in a scrap on the 24th and the girl dog got a bite wound that needed watching, and the pups spent too much time crated and miserable. Eventually we let them out, after some of the guests had gone. So though it was good to see folks, I was glad to go home. I've spent yesterday and today doing very little of anything.

 

We got some cool presents though. We gave people handmade photo frames and lots of pix of the new baby to add to their collections. We got a new toaster oven, one of those funky Galileo thermometers, a pair of blown-glass plant watering bulbs, and some other bits of swag. Spouse found out he likes caviar, so we brought a couple of jars home.

 

So it was tiring but good overall.

[no-one]

I had a great christmas, I was supposed to go to church with my mum on xmas eve but I couldn't face it. I was ill anyway so I ended up having a brief drink in the pub and getting an early night. That was my only brief wobbly moment, the rest of xmas was fantastic. I got loads of cool presents too, that's what xmas is all about!

[Hineni]

I was a tad disappointed that I didn't get to go to my husband's family get together (have a chronic pain condition that decided to kick my ass last Sunday). His youngest brother and his wife adopted a sweet lil' one from Russia and I missed out seeing her enjoy her second xmas. But, other than that, it was one of the best holidays I've had in years.

 

I think my favorite part was watching my husband open his presents....all toys. I only have one child and he's 19...he got some cool stuff, but my husband was the child xmas eve night. He's still very giddy.

[R. S. Martin]

My family disqualified themselves of my presence so I did not darken anyone's doorway this holiday season. My landlady and daughters are my closest family and they let me have my Christmas in solitude the way I want it except she has a tradition of bringing me a plate of chicken dinner and a loaf of nutbread that is just delicious. She also brought me a batch of homemade butter tarts. Yum!

 

Oh, and a Happy Holidays card. I think she must know that I deconverted but since I don't talk about it she doesn't either.

 

I think I voted 6--I forget. I was going to vote "other" because I don't have family and spent the day alone. Then I remembered that I wasn't totally alone because of the landlady's visits to bring me the gifts of food.

 

The greatest thing--also the saddest--is that none of my family even called to wish me a merry Christmas. It's great because I can't deal with the patronizing condescention that drips from their voices when they even so much as say hello. It's sad that things have actually come to such a pass.

 

BUT at the Winter Solstice party I met a former Jehovah's Witness who apparently can't even talk with family simply because that is the way JWs treat people who apostate, and he seemed quite happy with his life. I guess this isn't the end of the world. He runs a support group and he invited me. There is life beyond family.

 

So this has been my second Christmas as an ex so far.

[Redbeard]

My family has no idea that I've deconverted, so there's no drama (there would be...), but Xmas sucked as usual anyway. Our get-togethers have been boring for a few years now since everyone but myself got married, so our former post-lunch shenanigans are long gone along with my enjoyment of the holiday.

 

Though now I have to say, after reading replies on the subject here and at many other forums, I really don't have any room to complain.

[upstarter]

As my husband likes to say, we solve all those xmas problems by having 3 provinces between us and family. Called my family on xmas eve and talked to everyone. I think there are enough ex-ers, non-believers and weak believers in my family now that the fundies are outnumbered and seem to keep quiet. Just talked about everyone's jobs and heard everyone cooing over my nephew's new baby.

 

We had a nice quiet xmas with our kids. Went to the movies in the afternoon and I even made turkey dinner, something I normally don't bother with for our little family.

 

Our best friends came over last night (Boxing Day here in Canada) and tried out our new Wii. And today we leave for a 5 day holiday with 10 of our closest friends, on a lake in Western Washington state. I've been looking forward to this trip more than I ever anticipate xmas.

 

See you all in 2008!

 

Heather

[2Bornot2B]

I chose "other" because I really didn't have a bad time this Xmas but there were a few times that were a little uncomfortable for me. My family doesn't know that I have de-converted so there were no problems there. We had Xmas with the different parts of my extended family on an individual basis. Basically just a bunch of visiting. We always have dinner on Xmas eve and that was nice. Xmas morning we have presents and then go visiting in the afternoon. It was sort of interesting because we went to visit my great aunts and uncles. One set is very fundy (Church of God); my uncle is the minister of music. My other aunt and uncle are devout Methodist and he is a Gideon. When I went into the former's home, they had it on the Daystar Xtian network. I noticed that they had many Rod Parsley books and all. Being there made me a little uncomfortable because no one knows I have deconverted and I just wanted to scream that it was all BS. I made it though and had nice visits.

 

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Josh

[crazy-tiger]

Didn't have to deal with any of my family... so nothing happened.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I'm boring... so what?

[Neon Genesis]

I chose "other" because I really didn't have a bad time this Xmas but there were a few times that were a little uncomfortable for me. My family doesn't know that I have de-converted so there were no problems there.

This is pretty much how my Christmas went. I'm still a closeted ex-Christian, but we went over to my cousin's and his wife's house for Christmas dinner and they had a lot of random Christianity references all over the house. Stuff like bibilical-related books lying around, scriptures and the Ten Commandments hanging on the walls in picture frames and taped to the fridge. I even saw that their son who's in 2nd grade had one of those bible activity study guide book things for kids that was written for 1st and 2nd graders, which was really kind of disturbing because they had the story about Abraham being commanded by God to slaughter his son in it in all its glory and I couldn't help but think that was just sick since it's supposed to be an activity book for little kids. Thankfully we didn't discuss religion any and I wasn't really annoyed by all the subtle attempts at preachyness that they had around the house since it's their house and all. I just thought it was all really silly, though I still think their kid's activity book is really disturbing. Even my Christian sister agreed that she was shocked that they had that Abraham story in it.

[Deva]

I can relate to that Neon Genesis. I only visit my parents once or twice a year because they live 1,200 miles away. Cristmas is not an issue, because I never visit them at that time. Their house is so full of xian junk that it creates a disturbing atmosphere, even if they don't hassle me directly. Plaques of the Lord's Prayer on the wall, Bibles everywhere, Sunday School workbooks laying out, all kinds of other stuff. I love my parents, but I can do without Christianity. I despise it in its every form.

[bluewizard]

No, I really enjoyed my Christmas, Christmas in my family has always been more about family time and enjoying yourself, religion wasnt brought up and it was like any other Christmas.