What Is A Christmas Tradition?

In it’s simplest form, a tradition is something you do, either individually or collectively in a group, each and every year around or on a specific date or time. So, a Christmas tradition would be something you do around Christmas, every year, without fail.

Some people may give presents to one another. Others may take gift giving to a whole new level and only give gifts to those that are poor. Still, others may not give any store-bought gifts and have gift qualifications of those that are only “hand-made” by their loved ones.

Every single family has their own rich, historic, family traditions that go back generations. And others make up their own for a new generation to enjoy.

All traditions whether new or old, are practiced greatly upon what each individual family, or person, feels should, or likes, to be done.

Traditions can be simple, or they can be complicated. Say, for instance, that every year, you and your family decides that there should be one new Christmas tree decoration purchased to mark that year.

In other cases, it can be a bit more complicated. Almost like a ceremony if you will. Take this example:

One family may have lost a dear loved one 2 days before Christmas, or maybe even on Christmas, so every year, before doing anything else, they drive out to visit the cemetery where their dearly departed has been placed. They purchase new flowers, or a grave blanket and place it on the grave, paying their respects.

Maybe they have a family prayer or simply have a conversation with their loved one letting them know all the things that have happened throughout the course of the year.

Then, maybe they light a candle. After this is over, they leave the cemetery and return to another relative’s home for a wonderful Christmas gathering to further celebrate the life of their loved one and also the birth of Jesus Christ.

Or, maybe a person who doesn’t regularly attend Church, or hasn’t done so for years, goes to Church only on Christmas Eve, or Christmas Morning.

My family traditions include the coming of The Gingerbread Man, a tangerine in the foot of the Christmas stocking and the chocolate Advent calendar. There were other, but they were tied to people who are now passed … but you get the gist.

Some traditions become so entrenched that they aren’t even thought of as traditions anymore, such as decorating the Christmas Tree, hanging stockings up, wrapping presents, visiting family and friends you don’t normally see throughout the rest of the year, going sledding with your children, going to school plays or pageants, going Christmas caroling, collecting donations for local charitable organizations, making cookies or home-made candies, drinking egg nog, and so on come in to the picture.

Obviously, some things we do are steeped more in history than others. But, every tradition has a history, whether it’s a new tradition or one that has been passed on from generation to generation. That’s the important part about Christmas traditions.

It’s not really the act of doing them that makes them an integral part of our lives. It’s how doing them makes us feel inside, and outside really.