Holidays, religious or not are great because they break away from the mundane routine of our daily lives.
Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, it's still a good concept to get almost a week off of work/school to do whatever.

If you don't celebrate it, then at least appreciate it. Speaking as a former athiest, christmas always made me a bit bitter. But that didn't make me generally ill-willed toward the celebration of something people find important. Whether or not they chose to celebrate it by giving each other gifts that weren't really necessary.

I usually don't prefer to celebrate holidays for what they may have been intended to, but I try to enjoy the time that I may get off from it.

Examples:
Valentines Day = i'll take my girlfriend out to dinner and we'll just try and have some fun.
Birthday = i'll try and have somebody take me out to dinner. No gifts necessary, just make a gesture of appreciation of my new year of existence.
Christmas = a small gift and some time spent should suffice. don't break the bank to try and get everybody gifts, a self made gift should always be appreciated.
Thanksgiving = don't generally care for the holiday but, i do like that i do the same thing for it every year; visit family and over eat.
Memorial day = W00t! three day weekend.

I concur! If you're not constantly nice to each other from now on, I'll have to Underthump(TM) ya.

{"name":"kickedintheballs.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/d\/ed8a8a52d0e06db6ee6fd3c087b1f219.jpg","w":500,"h":330,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/d\/ed8a8a52d0e06db6ee6fd3c087b1f219"}
This guy's been Underthumped (TM).

That was just you; it has nothing to do with being an atheist.