dancerjodi

My brother and I grew up without any religious practice whatsoever, but we had no trouble accepting that there were special holidays during the year where we get presents or candy--we didn't see them as that different from birthdays, really. Of course we knew the whole story of Christmas, it's unavoidable in this culture, but it didn't seem that relevant to what we did at home. We had a nativity set even, but it meant more as family heirloom/a chance to play with toy camels and sheep and angels. Somehow we understood that the story was the inspiration for the holiday, but didn't find the story of the Nativity of any more importance than Santa himself. Anyway, my point being that kids can navigate these things, especially where there's presents or chocolate involved. And they also get over the revelation that Santa and the Easter bunny are really their parents, as long as the presents and chocolate keep on coming ;-)

I will say that growing up without any religion did have something of an alienating effect for me from my general peers. I don't think any of them held it against me in any way, but it was more in moments like saying the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning and not feeling like I could say the "under God" part because I knew I didn't believe it and thus I would be lying if I said it, while all my classmates muttered along as usual. But, that's part of what made me who I am, so I don't think I would change that. Just something to be aware of, though.