Anders Hanson

After my last posting about being an atheist, you would probably expect me to be fairly ambivalent about Christmas. But I am not at all, I love it, and it’s all down to some intangible nice feeling that I get because of all the trappings that come with the time of year.

I like Christmas carols, (as long as they are being played at Christmas and not weeks beforehand in shops), I like turkey dinners, I like Christmas pudding, I like Christmas presents (it’s not just because it’s a gift, although that is nice, it’s the excitement of opening the wrapping paper to discover what’s inside), I like Christmas trees (proper ones, that have come from a real forest and smell as a Christmas tree should and not of plastic), and other decorations, and I even like nativity scenes. I suppose much of what I’ve described is not particularly about religion, but I even like some of the religious side of it. You can’t really object, it is a religious festival after all, but just because I am a non-believer it doesn’t stop me from just liking the atmosphere and the Christian tradition that we celebrate at this time of year. I suppose it is because, to use Richard Dawkins’ now infamous phrase, I am a cultural Christian. I grew up in a Christian country, in a generally Christian family, and so I like much of the tradition that comes with that.

But the other thing that I find at Christmas is that I somehow also feel more Swedish at this time of year. Christmas is the one time of year when what I do is a complete mixture of my English and Swedish background and that has affected the way I have celebrated it, such as the carols we listen to and the way we decorate the house. It is also because I associate Christmas with St Lucy (or Sankta Lucia in Sweden), which is actually a festival on the 13th of December, but in Sweden it often gets tied in to all the preparations for Christmas itself. I think it is all down to a feeling that Christmas in Sweden is a lot more old-fashioned and less commercial than it is in this country. That is probably misguided, as I haven’t been in Sweden at Christmas since I was a small child, but I like to cling on to that belief.

Writing this entry I have realised why it is that I like Christmas so much. It is the pleasant old-fashioned nostalgia that it brings and thoughts of spending time with my relatives (most of whom are unfortunately no longer around). It reminds me of what we all probably like to think of as a more innocent time when we were children and when Christmas was not all about shopping and spending money.