A friend wrote:

It always seems ironic to me that Christians make such a fuss about the secularisation of “their” festival, when it was a pagan celebration first! Yet blurring of festivals between cultures is and always has been a fact of intercultural interaction. The early Christians were absolute shockers for grabbing other festivals and putting their own spin on them – why complain when it’s done to them? And why can’t anyone who wants celebrate whatever elements of Christmas that they want, without trying to claim the festival as “theirs”?

I’ll be celebrating peace, goodwill towards others, and selfless giving, and Jesus will simply be the metaphor, because what I’m celebrating is the goodness of god, rather than the actual birth of a 1st century Jewish baby.