It's rarely really bad around the holidays honestly. The only religious people who come to visit us are:
-My father, who doesn't bring it up much if at all.
-My husband's much older cousins who are crazy to the point the other Christians in the family think they're crazy. They always stop by for maybe 5 minutes to drop off the crappy presents they want to give us. And by crappy I don't mean "cheap", I mean stuff nobody would ever want. Like you could give it to a homeless person, and the homeless person would be worse off than before. I mean stuff they put absolutely NO thought into them. They only do it because they like shopping for people (their words, not mine) Every year we give them a present too. Usually we get them a box of candy. Because we figure they can all eat it and at least enjoy it. Thankfully they stay all of two minutes to drop off a gift, get theirs and then leave. They don't bring up religion (It's about the only time they don't. The wife once accused me going to a 'lesbian college', which was clearly supposed to be an insult) and instead talk about how much they spoiled their grandson.
-And lastly my father-in-law, who'll bring up Jesus and the bible for about 5 minutes, during which time I distract myself with my kids, and then he drops the subject and eventually moves on to something else. Usually automobile related. I feel too bad for him being alone at Christmas to really say anything. Not that it'd get him to leave anyway. But best to avoid arguments at the holidays.
The rest of our guests aren't all that religious. So it's not too difficult really. Avoiding religion at Christmas is no different from the rest of the year really. Maybe even easier because most people want to talk about what they got, and what they've been doing.
-My father, who doesn't bring it up much if at all.
-My husband's much older cousins who are crazy to the point the other Christians in the family think they're crazy. They always stop by for maybe 5 minutes to drop off the crappy presents they want to give us. And by crappy I don't mean "cheap", I mean stuff nobody would ever want. Like you could give it to a homeless person, and the homeless person would be worse off than before. I mean stuff they put absolutely NO thought into them. They only do it because they like shopping for people (their words, not mine) Every year we give them a present too. Usually we get them a box of candy. Because we figure they can all eat it and at least enjoy it. Thankfully they stay all of two minutes to drop off a gift, get theirs and then leave. They don't bring up religion (It's about the only time they don't. The wife once accused me going to a 'lesbian college', which was clearly supposed to be an insult) and instead talk about how much they spoiled their grandson.
-And lastly my father-in-law, who'll bring up Jesus and the bible for about 5 minutes, during which time I distract myself with my kids, and then he drops the subject and eventually moves on to something else. Usually automobile related. I feel too bad for him being alone at Christmas to really say anything. Not that it'd get him to leave anyway. But best to avoid arguments at the holidays.
The rest of our guests aren't all that religious. So it's not too difficult really. Avoiding religion at Christmas is no different from the rest of the year really. Maybe even easier because most people want to talk about what they got, and what they've been doing.
