Well, I actually mostly agree with Guest Katy (join if you aren't just temporarily a Guest, please!) - except for I'd really rather learn about the deeply meaningful celebrations of other PEOPLE, and ignore the religion as irrelevent to all the good things you're talking about. The "season" of midwinter celebration predates Christ by millennia, and the "real reason" of the season should not be limited to the Christian reason, even if that is the real reason for celebrating CHRISTMAS AS A CHRISTIAN holiday. It's REAL pain that there isn't another word for the same celebration of all that good stuff, love amongst fellow peoples, peace on Earth and kinddess (oops, almost typoed kinkiness - go figure!) abounding, happening at the end of the year, and NOT RELIGIOUS. Like Christmas/Lovemas, or does the -mas ending HAVE to mean religion/mass? Can it mean Ritual, in which case we're OK as anyone can have rituals?