“The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than the tenets of any particular religion: it is good will toward men — a frame of mind which is not the exclusive property (though it is supposed to be part, but is a largely unobserved part) of the Christian religion.

“The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: ‘Merry Christmas’ — not ‘Weep and Repent.’ And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form — by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending them cards in token remembrance. . . .

“The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized. The gift-buying . . . stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by department stores and other institutions — the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors —provide the city with a spectacular display, which only ‘commercial greed’ could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.” Ayn Rand, The Objectivist Calendar, December 1976

Learn More:

• “Why Christmas Should Be More Commercial” by Leonard Peikoff

• “Commercialism Only Adds to Joy of the Holidays” by Onkar Ghate

• “This Is How Ayn Rand Celebrated Christmas” by the Editors