Good question.
Easy answer: because we always have.
My parents aren't Christians, particularly. My mom is an atheist. My dad is a naturalist in the manner of Thoreau and other transcendentalists (hey, Dad, they were all UUs, you know). But, we still had Christmas every year, complete with a tree, Santa Claus, and the reading of the biblical story every Christmas morning. True, there was an absence of nativities in my house, until my mom purchased a pretty blue and white ceramic one later in my childhood. And the Christmas cards never really mentioned Jesus.
So what were we doing? Celebrating family, recognizing tradition, participating in the dominant culture of which we were definitely, except for the religion, a part. It's what were still doing, though from a little further outside of the mainstream than when I was a child. Now, with a more Universalist/all-souls bent, we are celebrating the birth of a baby, the birth of all babies, the inherent worth and dignity of all people. The children have a nativity and we talk about how special babies are, how special families are--whatever they might look like (be it a young woman who became pregnant by mysterious or uncertain or even all-too-common means before marriage to her older husband, or your local bi-racial, lesbian-led family). We've explained our understanding of Jesus as a teacher but that hasn't sunk in yet. In that UU vein, we've also mentioned Diwali, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa. Because we lean pagan, we'll also discuss Yule and celebrate Solstice (though we won't be staying up all night. This year). As devoted Anglophiles, with a Victorian bent, there will be steamed puddings and fruitcake from across the pond (Shropshire, I think) and, later, readings of A Christmas Carol (hey, Dickens was a Unitarian.) And as members of our church, we'll attend Christmas Eve services, where we sing carols, light candles, and have a potluck supper (oh, and this year, our wedding beforehand). Did you know that "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" is a UU carol about peace from the time of the Civil War?
We'll try to avoid what Christmas can become, specifically the rampant materialism, though there will no doubt be Christmas lists and requests for Santa. Even as a non-Christian, I actually have more trouble with Santa than Jesus. Part of me feels dishonest in participating in this great cultural deception--in no other aspect of their upbringing (except, similarly, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny), do I lie them--not about death, things I don't know or can't explain. I've never said that Santa was real, never said he wasn't. The children just absorb the fact that he exists and is bringing presents. But I also don't want them to miss out on the joy Santa brings to the very young, nor do I want them to be the little misfits on the playground who aren't included or, worse, ruin it for everyone else. I wonder, do people of other faiths say that Santa doesn't come to them or that Santa is a myth? Those are totally different answers. I don't believe Jesus was the Messiah (or that there is/will be a Messiah) but I do say that other people believe he is. Which answer is that? So, in the end, I'd like to talk to my kids about Santa as a metaphor for generosity, charity, love, just as Jesus is a teacher. But they're just a little young to grasp "metaphor." Maybe that's why we tell these great human truths as stories, so that the very young, so that we all, can understand. And so, Santa is coming to our house and the baby Jesus is in our nativity. And later, probably around the time they figure out who Jesus is (and how important he is to many people), we'll have to talk about who Santa is, too.
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