Favorite Family Christmas Traditions

Decorating Traditions

• While decking the halls with boughs of holly may be a thing of the past, decorating the home for the Christmas season remains a favorite family tradition. In addition to hanging stockings, draping garland along the banisters, scenting the air with pine and evergreen and placing festive nick-knacks and ornaments around the home, many families still hang mistletoe in a doorway, perpetuating an old tradition with origins in Norse and Druid history. To correctly observe this tradition, however, you must kiss the person standing beneath it. Decorating the outside of the house with lights is another favorite family tradition at Christmas time. This tradition has roots in ancient history, when the ancestors decorated bushes outside of their dwellings to attract helpful spirits in the winter.

Food

• Baking homemade Christmas cookies is a tradition with medieval European origins. For centuries, families have baked an assortment of Christmas cookies and cakes, decorated in festive shapes and colors. In modern times, children enjoy leaving a plate of Christmas cookies out for Santa Claus to snack on as he leaves presents under the tree. The fruitcake, though frequently the subject of holiday jokes, remains a traditional Christmas food in households across the country. Many choose to wash a dry piece of fruitcake down with some eggnog -- a Christmas drink first enjoyed in America in the Jamestown, Virginia settlement.

Family Rituals

• Favorite family Christmas traditions include gatherings and activities. At Christmas time, some groups still go door-to-door, knocking on neighbors doors and singing Christmas carols to the people inside. Another activity that̵7;s popular at Christmas time is the tradition of sending greeting cards to friends and family. Many families string the holiday cards they̵7;ve received together and hang them as decorative garland. On Christmas Eve, families enjoy gathering around the yule log fire -- a tradition that began in ancient Norway and continues there today.

Traditions from Around the World

• If you̵7;re looking to start a new family Christmas tradition, take inspiration from some of the beloved customs of other countries. Decorate your home with a fresh poinsettia plant, which is a popular tradition that comes from Mexico. If preparing the traditional Ukrainian 12-course Christmas meal seems a bit excessive, you could leave your shoes out on a windowsill in the hopes that leprechaun-like creatures come and fill them with candy, as the children do in Iceland.