It is my favourite time of the year, I love the preparation and anticipation of Christmas, I do not, however, like the expense and the obligation.
This year I will be adding some trimmings to my tree that my daughter and I have made ourselves, thanks in the main to the social media application Pinterest. I am not a fan of social media, I only have an account with LinkedIn (for business purposes), WhatsApp (so I can keep in contact with my best friend and my son) and now Pinterest. I use a nickname for the latter and find the creativity and generosity of the people that use it inspiring.
The gift giving this year will be frugal, my twin boys are going back to the UK to spend Christmas with their father, whilst their older brother (who is at university in the UK) will be crossing the Channel to spend Christmas with me and his little sister. There will be token presents under the tree and we will spend the day itself mainly eating lots!
France is a secular country, the schools do not perform Nativity scenes and the religious aspects of the festival are not highlighted within the school curriculum. However, nearly all the communes will have a Nativity scene near the local town hall or church and Nativity crèches are sold in all the shops that sell Christmas decorations.
I was brought up in a Christian family, was baptised and even went through confirmation. I love Christmas carols and I will bring out the Nativity crèche each year. Nowadays, in light of the mess that religion on the whole is in, I would say I was more a spiritual agnostic than ardent Christian. Although with the way things are turning out with other less flexible religions in the world seeming to dominate there may come a time when all agnostics have to choose a religion in order to survive, but I will save those rantings for the New Year.
For me Christmas isn't about the day itself, it's about my close family and friends. I love the preparations, the present buying, the decorating, the food, all of it, although not so much the the card writing (this year will include the making of the cards which may, or more than likely may not, go according to plan!!).
I will write a post about my idea of a perfect Christmas versus the reality in part two.
https://www.bustle.com/articles/98191-what-does-being-agnostic-mean-5-things-to-know-about-those-of-us-who-keep-our
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