Christmas Traditions

     Finals are wrapping up and students are heading home for Christmas break.

     Many students either drive or fly home for Christmas break to spend the holidays with their family in a unique way.

“I just like that my family is always, seems to be always closer. We kind of put aside any issues that we’re having, we all just spend time together, and I really like giving gifts,” Madison Mills said.

Many people said that they enjoyed cooking and hanging out with their families on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

“Just making cookies with my family; my mom and my brother, my dad and I,” Mills said. “We always cook them on Christmas Eve and even though my brother and I are older we still leave cookies out for Santa.”

But there are many other Christmas traditions that people observe. Many people will place a star on top of their tree, go caroling, or take part in a community event in the days leading up to Christmas.

“My families Christmas Eve. We get salami, and sausage, and crackers, and cheese, and we all sit around and we all get to open a present and we used to color in a Christmas coloring book, but now we don’t do that any more,” Bethany Firsick said.

Some traditions do not take place on December 5^th, but the tradition is what makes the holiday season memorable for many people.

Some traditions that take place on Christmas day include; not being allowed to open their gifts until after a religious service or brunch, having a randomly picked family member pass out the gifts, or going out for breakfast. Bethany Firsick said that they are never in a rush to open their presents.

“We sleep in, cause no one likes to get up early in my family, and then my parents make us a breakfast casserole, something like that, and we hang out and talk and then we’ll kind of slowly go over and open some presents,” Firsick said.

With the Christmas season here people are still running to stores to try and find gifts for their family, but for many the idea of Christmas is religiously driven and is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Nativity sets are very popular and hold a special place in many houses. Religious institutions also offer live nativity scenes where people re-enact the events that took place in the Christmas story.

Here is a link to more information about holiday traditions:
http://www.cozi.com/live-simply/50-holiday-traditions