good article.
My hubby's family is not religious in any form and not very family-centric, so we usually only spend time with my mother-in-law and her partner. Our time with her and her man is very secular - a big meal, opening presents. Usually on Dec 25th unless we're visiting my out of town family.
My dad loved the holidays before he got sick with cancer, but my stepmom is leaning towards Jehovah's witness belief (without the witnessing, thank the Lady) so I expect that since Dad's passed away, the holidays won't be such a big deal at my stepmom's. She does like us to visit though, so we will be trying to get over there for a few days. Our visits usually consist of the big meal, opening presents. She probably won't have a tree, since Dad is gone (he was the one that loved cutting down a scrub evergreen out of a ditch... very Charlie Brown-esque trees). We usually visit on or after the 25th.
Here at our home, we put up the (fake - hubby has allergies) tree which symbolizes the Yule Log (though we may also have a small table centerpiece version of the Yule Log as well). Our ornaments are mostly mine... made when I was a child or purchased/made as an adult, or received as gifts. I only put up the ornaments I love though... so none of the "christianish" ones go up. Every year I buy a new star ornament, and sometimes I pick up one that reminds me of something paganish, so I have pentacles, suns, moons, a celestial rabbit that I love. Also, every year my son has a new ornament, and when he moves out those will go with him to start his tree (this happened as I grew up too, so when I left home, I had many ornaments to start out with). We also decorate and put up stockings (because I love them).
For a while, when my son was young, I worried about "Santa" but decided it was a battle I didn't care to fight. Grandparents wanted Santa so I let them have it. (Ever read the book "When Santa was a Shaman"? highly recommend it!). Santa visits our house to fill the stockings, and that's it.
As for our pagan/witchy traditions, of course I'm the only witch in the house at this time, and maybe my hubby could technically be called pagan but not sure if he wants to be called that... He's not as into the season as I am.
But some of the things that we do are:
Singing seasonal songs - I have a massive collection of pagan song lyrics, many of which I actually know the tune of. But even better, there are pagan versions of nearly all the xmas carols and I have the lyrics to them. So we (not including my hubby... he is not a singer) will sing pagan yule carols. By the way, you can find tons of pagan songs/lyrics/re-writes on the interwebs!
Telling a Yule story. It usually involves telling a story of the going and returning Light, turning of the wheel. It involves candles, turning off all electrical light (though the tree may stay lit for part of the story and get turned off at the end). sometimes it might involve a little magick.
Food - always food that is typical of the season. winter squashes (pumpkins, etc), spiced nuts and cookies, mulled cider/wassail... etc etc.
We put less energy into Santa and more into Mother Berchta (a pre-cursor to Santa) and tell Her story too. At our house She only brings one gift to a child, if the kid was good. If the kid was bad, She tosses him into Her sack and he's never seen again.
There's lots more to Her story, like how when she visits a household, She kills and chops up Her goat and puts it in the household soup pot then tosses the goat's bones into Her sack, only to shake out Her goat again and ride off on her to the next house!
Other things I've done at Yule time: walked a labyrinth or sun spiral. One time (when I was MUCH younger and probably stupider) a bunch of friends and I stayed awake all night to "ward off Ragnarok" (really just an excuse to drink mulled wine and other spirits) and then at dawn we banged pots to "wake up the sun" (woke the neighbors too). That kind of thing really works best if the whole village does it... not so well in the city, when most people like to sleep at night.
I know some of my country pagan friends do bang pots before dawn to wake the sun.
Here is a Yule carol for you!:
Mother Berchta's Coming to Town
written by Stephen Posch, to the tune of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'
Oh, you better watch out when winter comes nigh,
don't you dare doubt, I'm telling you why:
Mother Berchta's coming to town!
She carries a sack made out of a skin,
she dumps the toys out, she stuffs the kids in,
Mother Berchta's coming to town!
She rides on Gnasher Skeggi,
A goat whose back is strong,
her beard is gray and scraggly,
and her tail is ten feet long!
With six or eight horns, a moustache or two,
make no mistake--she's coming for you!
Mother Berchta's coming to town!
She knows with whom you're sleeping,
she knows with whom you wake,
she knows each thing you're thinking,
So don't think, for Goddess' sake!
So when the winds howl way up in the sky,
Listen as she and Skeggi pass by,
Mother Berchta's coming to town!
There's lots more to Her story, like how when she visits a household, She kills and chops up Her goat and puts it in the household soup pot then tosses the goat's bones into Her sack, only to shake out Her goat again and ride off on her to the next house!