Christmas Around the World

Christmas Around the World

When we talk about Christmas, it’s easy to assume that the holiday is the same all over the world. But is that really true?

Traditionally, kids in the United States write letters to Santa to talk about the things they want for Christmas. If they’ve been good throughout the year they will likely receive a letter from Santa that assures them their name is on his ‘Nice List’. These same kids will probably have a decorated Christmas tree in their homes and they will hang stockings for Santa to fill with wonderful surprises.

For most of us, Christmas includes an exchange of gifts, a visit from Santa, and a delicious meal that is shared with loved ones.

But what about Christmas in other places: Is the holiday celebrated in the same way? Now, we have Internet and social networks that make it possible for us to see and experience how people observe Christmas in different parts of the world.

Christmas Foods

Christmas food is not only ham, turkey, and delicious side dishes and desserts. In other parts of the world, different kinds of food will be served on Christmas. Most European countries

celebrate Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. The Czech Republic, Austria and Germany serve carp with vegetables.

The carp is cooked in a beer and ginger sauce which makes it very tasty and spicy. Bulgaria serves twelve dishes, none of which are meat. They are different kinds of beans, fruits, cakes, cheese and spinach. Some countries, like Australia and Brazil follow the traditional turkey, ham, and stuffing viands.

The Christmas meals in France vary based on the regions. Parisians enjoy foie gras and oysters, while goose is the main fare in Alsace and Burgundy. Spain and Portugal concentrate on seafood such as sea bass, almonds and marzipan.

Christmas Traditions

Some Christmas traditions follow the cultures of the country. Russia celebrates Christmas on January 7. On Christmas Day, the Czech Republic women try to predict if they will get married in the coming year. With their back to the main house door, the shoe is thrown over their shoulder. If the heel is nearer the door, they will remain single.

German children leave their shoe outside the door and if they are good, the shoe will be filled with candies. This is similar to leaving your stockings in the fireplace, with the expectation that it will be filled with goodies the following morning. Slovakians throw a spoonful of loksa to the ceiling to predict if they will have a good harvest the following year.

The harvests are plentiful if more loksa stays stuck to the ceiling. Christmas is normally celebrated on December 25. But there are countries that because of their culture and tradition, might celebrate it on a different day and for a longer period.

But wherever it is and whatever food you partake, the spirit of Christmas lives in everyone. From the team at Package From Santa: A very Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

New Year Family Traditions

Making family traditions for special occasions, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, is a good practice. Traditions help the family remember the past and strengthen the bond between family members. The New Year is a special occasion that should also have family traditions. 

By this time Santa Claus is back at the North Pole resting up. He spent lots of time reading specially crafted letters to Santa and made decisions about who is naughty and who is nice. Then he made his long journey to deliver gifts to kids all across the world. He is tired and probably sleeping right now.

But that doesn't mean you should be sleeping too! Don’t sleep the day away on January 1^st. Many families fail to have traditions because everybody is tired on New Year's Day. They are resting from staying up late celebrating New Year's Eve. You can have traditions for New Year's Eve and another set of traditions for New Year's Day. The traditions can make the New Year events more meaningful and memorable.

 

For New Year's Eve, you can have some punch and fruit to eat as you welcome the New Year. A family camp-out can be a great way to welcome the New Year. Try camping in the house – kids will love the ‘adventure’ and you will be much more comfortable. You can set the tent up in the living room. You can play games and tell stories around the tent while waiting for midnight.

You can spend the time discussing various resolutions. Some resolutions may be difficult to keep. You can also talk about ways of keeping the resolutions. While you will probably make well-planned resolutions designed to make you a better person, your kids will likely have different ideas about resolutions. Remind your kids, and yourself, that resolutions should not be too difficult to maintain. Otherwise, it’s easy to lose interest in working to meet the goals. 

New Year resolutions should not be too easy either. If they are you (or your kids) will not feel a real sense of accomplishment when the goal is met. After sharing each other’s resolutions you can write them down. Each family member can make their own predictions about which resolutions will be kept. You can then review these next year as you again celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another.

Whoever has the most correct predictions can win prizes. You can also have another set of predictions about other matters, such as world events and sports. This will make the children become more aware of happenings around the world.

Special Meals Can Become Family Traditions

On New Year's Day, you can have brunch, a combined breakfast and lunch meal. This will give everyone a chance to sleep late. If people are still tired, you can have a New Year dinner instead. It is important the family eat together on the first day of the year. The family meal produces a closer bonding among the family members.

Clean-Up Time

This can also be the time to put away the Christmas decorations. All the family members can pitch in and help keep the decorations for the next year. If you have an artificial tree, you may want to pack and store it away. Don't forget to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Family members tend to become too familiar with one another and assume many basic practices. A Happy New Year greeting is always appreciated. 

Happy New Year to All!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day: Celebrating With the Kids

Most people will spend Christmas Eve enjoying a delicious Christmas dinner. Family members may then gather around the tree and sing Christmas carols. Story telling is sometimes part of the activities during Christmas Eve. It is an enjoyable time for adults, but maybe not so much for the children. The kids are restless. They’ve already sent letters to Santa and now it’s time to find out if those Christmas wishes will come true.

On Christmas Eve parents everywhere encourage their kids to get to sleep early so Santa can come and leave their presents. While the children sleep, parents scurry back and forth, leaving presents under the Christmas tree. Christmas day is definitely an exciting and happy event for all.

Christmas Day: A Magical Time for Kids

Most kids enjoy Christmas Day more than Christmas Eve. On Christmas day, the children get to open all their gifts and presents. Some presents are from family members, relatives and friends. The gifts are nice but children always prefer the wonderful and exciting presents brought by Santa Claus. As soon as the children wake up, they rush to look over the presents under the Christmas tree.

Before the Opening Begins…

Children want to open their presents right away. It is hard to keep everything organized and orderly. You can set a tradition before the opening of the presents. Gather the family and say a short thanksgiving prayer to bless all who gave those gifts and presents. It will be hard to keep the children quiet and silent but with a little bit of patience and perseverance, you might be able to instill this as a family tradition.

By now everybody is excited and waiting to start opening the presents. You should ask people to check the presents first and find out if there are greeting cards attached to the present. The gift might be from a family member, relative or friend. You need to know who gave the gift so you can send thank you cards to them.

This may take some additional control because everyone wants to start opening the gifts. You will have to organize and oversee the opening of the gifts to ensure the greeting cards are catalogued properly and not strewn around. You should keep track of the ongoing activities even if you are just as excited and impatient in opening your gifts.

Time to Eat!

After all the presents are opened, it is time for breakfast or brunch. Aside from the Christmas Eve dinner, you can have another feast on Christmas day itself or you can simply enjoy a casserole that will make cooking an easy task. 

The ambiance of Christmas Day is unique. All will be talking about their presents. Children are busy playing with their toys which is a good thing because parents are exhausted from their late night of being Santa.

Christmas is a great time for family bonding. Don't forget to take pictures of a happy and enjoyable time.