I've not read the 6 pages of posts, but here's mine.
At first I couldn't. There's a scripture that says if you do anything without a clear consciense, it's a sin. I forget where it was, but I found it when I was exiting JWland and trying to reconcile myself to Christmas. So that first year, we didn't celebrate. I couldn't do it in good conscience.
But I researched and read and read and prayed.
I remembered a man I met in field service once asked me "If I want to celebrate the Lord's birth on a certain day, why is that wrong?" Really no good answer to that question. It stuck with me through the years.
In researching I found things I didn't know about Christmas. Like how there really was a man who gave gifts of money at night to poor people and changed their lives for the better. He did so anonomously and for no gain to himself. Ha! Santa is real!
In pagan times the children and parents were in fear because on the night we now have Christmas Eve, all had to leave their doors unlocked and one child would be taken in the night to be offered as a sacrifice. It was a night of fear. With freedom from fear in Christ, how appropriate that that night, Christmas Eve, is a night of joyful expectation for children. Why not celebrate Christ in place where there used to be fear? Good taking the place of evil.
Now if the 3 Magi were supposed to be led by Satan...why did Jehovah allow Mary and Joseph to accept any presents from them? If you knew someone from Satan had come and wanted to give your child a gift, would you take it? Heck no! But they did accept it. The Magi even worshipped Christ.
The angels sang in heaven at the joy of the birth.Why not celebrate the occasion?
The tree is used to signify the everlasting life brought by Christ now.
The candy cane represents the white purity of Christ and the blood he shed. It was used as a tool to teach children. It is in the shape of a J for Jesus.
Now for Santa, seeing there was a real one, seeing I believe he was rewarded by God for his generousness and his faith, he must be in heaven. In this way, he is real, he is alive, and his spirit is going strong. The spirit of giving is wonderful. There is nothing wrong with it. It also reminds me of the gift of life from Christ. It is the season of giving. We can't give what Christ did, but we can give to others and we can also give anonomously. We can help our fellow man with our physical means for sustaining life. We can follow the example of Christ who gave all and did it willingly.We can learn from an imperfect man who took little bags of gold and threw them into homes where they landed in shoes.
My own research set me free from the criticizing, fault finding thinking of JW's. I am allowed to be an adult and make my own decisions. It was quite an amazing thing to reach the age of 33 and finally get to research and analyze for myself. These are some of the reasons I find Christmas a truly pleasant time.
Seeing our kids sing in the church christmas concert about the birth of Christ and the love he showed was amazing. God has always had me hold Christmas in my heart even when I was taught it was "wrong". Now I know why.
