When I was a kid, my brother and I went doorbelling in our seedy apartment complex singing the only two Christmas carols we knew. We didn’t understand caroling. We thought it was a way to make money. JAMES YAMASAKI
I’ve been an atheist since I was 4 or 5, when my mother told me the “true” story of Easter and I said something like “I don’t think that really happened.” Every Christmas season from there on out has had some level of conflict and confusion for me. Why did everyone want us to go to church on Christmas Eve? Why did the old ladies give us mean looks when we slept on the pews? Who’d want to drink the blood of Christ? Why do grown-ups even like Christmas when they hardly get any presents? What if you really like Christmas songs but you don’t believe? Is it still okay to sing along? What is the point of caroling when you can just sing in your apartment where it’s warm?…