Christmas Traditions

Christmas time is a great time of traditions and I love hearing other people share their traditions. Now that my parents have passed and my children are grown, we don’t really follow many traditions any more for the holidays. I think it is important that children grow up with traditions so that they can pass them on to others. They may inspire their own children or others with these traditions. Traditions give children a sense of belonging and security in their lives. Traditions pass on hope for future generations. It would be a fun discussion to have with students and ask them to share their holiday traditions with the class. 

I wanted to share with you some of the traditions that I followed growing up and with my own children.

Growing up:

·      We would make and decorate Christmas cookies.

·      We put up the Christmas tree and decorated it.

·      We would have a big family Christmas dinner.

·      We would go to Christmas Even candlelight service at church.

·      We all would have Christmas stockings to hang up.  

·      We would open up our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve when father got home from work in the middle of the night. They would wake me up and let me know that Santa arrived, and we were one of the lucky early deliveries.

With my own children:

·      We would make and decorate Christmas cookies.

·      We would put up a Christmas tree after my daughter’s birthday on December 17.

·      My mother knit us all Christmas stockings to hang up.

·      We would have a big family Christmas dinner with my husband’s family on Christmas Eve.

·      We would exchange Christmas presents with my husband’s family on Christmas Eve and when we returned home, Santa would have visited there.

·      After opening presents from Santa, we would get in the car and drive all the way to my parents’ house on Christmas Eve (12 hours) so we could celebrate Christmas Day with them.

What Christmas traditions do you have? Please share.

Photo by S&B Vonlanthen on Unsplash