Would like some opinions!

Hello, all.
As you know, the holiday season has come and gone, and it's now the new year!
As part of expanding my knowledge on today's Wiccan and Pagan culture, I was curious to know how many of you celebrated Christmas?
Forgive me if I sound so stereotypical, please, I truly mean not to sound hostile to anyone.
It's just interesting to know what the rest of the people apart of these Religions celebrates like, as I will take into consideration for the future.
And also, if you like, what was your new year celebration like?
I know, you're probably thinking that I could have just looked it up, but I would really like to get a perspective from the many different types of said Religions in the forums (I'm aware that there are many different variations of them around).

Thank you to all who answer, and may the start of your new year be a good one!

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As a practicing Wiccan I don't celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday. However, it is a day on which many of us celebrate the joyfulness of being with family...especially those of our family who do not share our spiritual path.

Instead of Christmas most Wiccans celebrate Yule, the Winter Solstice. Yule falls anywhere from December 21-23 depending on when the actual Winter Solstice falls. This year the Solstice was on December 21. I celebrated Yule with my real-life coven. We held a huge feast, gave each other gifts, performed a ritual to celebrate the birth of the new Sun God, and then burned the Yule log which was made from the May Pole we danced around last Beltane. There's a very good article about Yule at http://www.witchessabbats.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=13

Wiccans celebrate New Year's Eve on January 1 much as everyone else does. Again, for us this is simply a mundane holiday with no particular spiritual significance. Many, if not most, Wiccans celebrate the New Year at Samhain on October 31. This is based on the old Celtic year when the new year was thought to begin then. We celebrate Samhain as a time to honor our ancestors and our Blessed Dead. It is also a time to take stock of those things in our lives which are no longer necessary and to make a fresh start with the new year.

I celebrated both Yule and Christmas last year.

I don't believe any one date inclines us to celebrate the features its associated with. After all, you can give gifts any time of year for any reason you like; the act of 'gift-giving' is not solely the domain of Christmas. Nor is family, togetherness, friendship or thanksgiving. I'd venture to say keeping our appreciation of those things limited to a few days of the year is downright criminal. We should celebrate the love we have for those closest to us all year 'round!

That being said, I celebrated Christmas the way I do every year - by inviting a few close friends to hang out with I and my husband in our painfully un-decorated apartment to share a turkey we ordered from Boston Market and a few brews.

I also celebrated Yule on the 21st. My interpretation of Yule is not only as a celebration of the Winter Solstice, gift-giving and family, but also as a time for a renewal of one's vows and oaths. If you have sworn fealty to a cause, an element, a deity, or another person, Yule is the day to cherish that vow through an appropriately sentimental gift or act of kindness.

I'll start by casting a circle during the power hour of whatever day it falls upon. Last year it was a Friday. A 'magical day' begins at sunrise and ends just before the sunrise of the following day; assuming 6am is a solid staple for 'sunrise,' (with obvious adjustments to seasonal factors), the power hour was (roughly) 2pm. So, at 2pm, I cast a circle and burned herbal offerings to the elements, renewing my vows to them.

Because Friday's domain is love, I used the opportunity to gift my husband a bottle enchanted with my essence. It contained a few strands of my hair, a few drops of my blood, and an auspicious blend of herbs for strengthening and prolonging feelings of romance.

Magic is nothing if not intuitive. The truly eclectic Wiccan way to celebrate is to pick any holiday of your choosing, conventional or not, and make your own tradition!

lol kind of a hot button topic in my house. while my mom knows i'm happy and she knows this religion is perfect for me, she still hold out hope i'll go back to Christianity. i've celebrated Yule ever since i converted, but my family celebrate christmas, so i sort of celebrate both just not in the religious sense. still to this day my mom doesn't let me open gifts from the family until christmas. [which is why she claims i celebrate christmas] i just celebrate christmas as a family get together, nothing more.

before my friends and i all went off to college and university, we use to all get together at my one friends house for a new years eve party. actually, a lot of my friends are born in december so the last week was chalked full of parties we got very little sleep. lot of fun though. as of two years ago most have graduated, moved even further away, and lost touch, so we don't get together anymore. shame, but it's life. personally, i've never liked new years resolutions [as a kid i saw how people fussed over them, so i vowed to never make one... though that might count as one lol] what i have started doing is writing down things on paper and placing them in a bowl. whenever i acomplesh one thing i draw another. for example, i currently have finished my new Scott Cummingham book. once that's done, i draw again. could be exercise more, think positively, re-watch a series, anything really. it's a really long drawn out to do list of things i could do in my spare time lol.

the third thing i'm doing [mostly because i'll be busy at Imbolc] is slowly cleaning and cleansing my apartment. on the up side i've got 3 bags of stuff to be donated, on the down side i keep putting off the kitchen lol [don't know why, it's rather small]

hope you have a great new year as well, i've got a feeling this will be a great year [mostly because last year was really crappy]