Most good Christadelphian kids grow up with a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to religious holidays. Whether you “celebrate” them or not, you at least have the supposed history of them (spoiler alert: pagan roots) drilled into your head.
In my family, we always did Christmas, but I was quick to point out to other Christadelphians that we didn’t do it, “As Jesus’ birthday.” In other words, we just did the pagan stuff. The tree, presents, etc. We didn’t do Santa, because my mom just thought it was weird to lie to your kids about that. I had enough weird dreams as a kid anyway (one recurring one was about an old guy from some tv show coming in my window).
For Easter, we would usually go to my mom’s mom’s house and hunt eggs. But even as a small child I remember feeling like I wasn’t sure if it was okay. Ah the cognitive dissonance of a Christadelphian kid.
Anyway, I’ve continued to waver as an adult. For Easter I just go with the flow. But Christmas I tend to vacillate on. I’ve totally skipped a few of the past 15 years, and kinda half-heartedly did some. It was hard the first few years after I was disfellowshipped, because Christmas also meant contact with people who triggered painful memories. Also, Christmas is a great time to travel. On my first trip to Africa I flew back on Christmas and saved a bunch of money. Last year I was actually a little more into it. I’ve definitely decided that if I do “celebrate” Christmas I want Jesus to be an integral part of it. But this year I’m going to Ireland or something…
One thing that bugs me is that I always kinda had the idea of, “Okay it has pagan roots but I’m not celebrating it that way,” but now I’m not sure all that paganism stuff is true. Every year at Easter and Christmas, people post arguments pro and con on the Christadelphian forums. For instance, this article (which I’ve read most of, but not all) that attempts to debunk the Easter is pagan argument. https://historyforatheists.com/2017/04/easter-ishtar-eostre-and-eggs/
Anyway, I don’t know where I’ll end up on this issue or if I’ll ever really pick a side. But tomorrow I’m gonna eat some chocolate.
Next Comes Africa 