Christmas Holiday Traditions
Home for the holidays is an expression often used around the Christmas holiday season. It has been a long standing tradition to try to get home for the holidays and Christmas. For those who celebrate Christmas, it is a holiday that speaks so strongly to the sense of family belonging, family memories and times together. The Christmas holiday is a time for giving, not only presents, but time, love and energy. In these current days of hustle and bustle, many people don’t have much in the way of spare time, but around the Christmas holiday, people tend to make time.
Many people find the time to go out into the community to participate in fund raisers for charity. They donate money, shop for toys and clothes for needy children, help out in the various social service sites and generally reach out of their everyday routines to give back during the Christmas holiday season. For many children, this time of year is where they first witness and learn about charity. Some children receive it and others learn to contribute to it. And the Christmas holiday seems to have always included thinking about those of us who might not be as fortunate.
The Christmas holiday includes much more than family and charity because within these two arenas there is food, song and gratitude. Most people have fond memories of past Christmas holidays when Christmas eve meant new Christmas pajamas and Christmas morning was full of laughter and delicious smells coming from the kitchen and a full stocking in the living room. All the joy and love and festivities around the Christmas holiday filled hearts and money was not at the center of importance of the holiday at all.
The most humble of homes were filled with warmth and Christmas holiday cheer. Children helped decorate with whatever was available, popcorn and cranberry strings for the tree or mantle, oranges stuck with cloves for the center of the table and baskets full of pine cones from the yard outside. And who can forget about placing the angel on the top of the Christmas tree in just the right way as the final touch to the Christmas holiday decorations? And just before bed, the all important plate with some snack for Santa, a Christmas holiday cookie and a cup of Eggnog was always a fine treat to leave for the jolly old man.
These are all some of the traditional decorations that children learn about during their early Christmas holidays. And hopefully, in this high tech world of ours, there are some of these wonderful old fashioned traditions still being shown to the children of today during the Christmas holiday season.