How the Godless and Believers Celebrate Christmas Together

My mother-in-law is is one of the kindest, most open-minded persons I know. A retired elementary school teacher who taught for four decades in a gritty urban district, she radiates intelligence and goodness. She stands with science on all the hot-button issues of our day, such as evolution. Now in her early 80s, she is also politically progressive and culturally and ethnically tolerant. I admire her deeply. The fact that my mother-in-law is a devout Christian does not diminish any of the above. As an atheist, I obviously don't share her faith in God, but I don't hold it against her, or think less of her. Why should I, especially since she doesn't hold my lack of belief against me? I know my mother-in-law is disappointed that her daughter (my wife) did not have a church wedding and that her two grandsons are not baptized. But she has never made ...