Not Christmasy

In the car after school, tonight being the first night of Hanukkah:

Me: So this is the first year that you two have been at a school that does not celebrate Christmas at all.
Jordan: In fact they don't even want us to talk about it. If we talk about it with our friends they suggest that we change the subject.
Me: Maybe they are thinking that school is a good place to get a break from Christmas. Since it's kind of all Christmas all the time outside of school.
Jordan: I feel like there is no Christmas anywhere that I go, in any of the things that I do.

This surprised the heck out of me. Jordan has been incredibly immersed in Lessons and Carols for weeks, and to me, Lessons and Carols is just about the most extremely, religiously Christmasy thing our family has ever participated in. Not only are the carols primarily religious, but also there are readings from the Gospels, and an overall atmosphere of reverence, in a church. It has taken a fair amount of conscious relaxation for me to feel comfortable with it. (And now I love it, as beautiful classical music.)

Me: Um... really? Even with Lessons and Carols?
Jordan: That is just stories. The baby Jesus and so on. I don't see that it really has anything to do with Christmas.
Me: What would make something Christmasy to you?
Jordan: A tree and presents.

I reported this to Ben, one of Jordan's choir directors, and he was as surprised as I was, but then he backtracked. He said that in choir, they don't treat the carols as religious; they check that the boys understand the text, but the carols are musical objects, not prayers. This fits right in with Jordan having said he is untroubled by the Christian content of what he is singing.