Some wait the whole year for it and some don’t even celebrate it. Here are 10 different traditions people do on Christmas Day.
Leaving cookies and milk for Santa
Leaving cookies and milk for Santa on the table next to the Christmas tree has been a tradition for years in most families with little children. This tradition is a ploy that parents teach their kids to keep their imagination going by telling them that if you leave Santa some snacks he will come and enjoy them while packing your presents under the tree next to the snacks. After all, travelling the world delivering presents to all the houses must be hard work and for the exhausted Santa, this will be a pick-me-up.
Christian religious celebration
Some families are extremely religious on this day by honouring Jesus on His birthday. They don’t give Christmas presents. They go to church and pray for the day along with others who share this tradition. They take holy communion and ask God to forgive their sins. This is a beautiful way of celebrating the life of Christ.
Opening presents on Christmas Eve
Kids are usually so excited for their Christmas presents that they normally talk their parents into staying up until midnight on Christmas Eve so they can open their presents. Now those with little children give up at about 20:00. Tell them they can open their presents like my parents always did. The more we begged, screamed and irritated them the earlier we were allowed to open presents.
Family traditional lunch
This is a tradition that no one can resist. It is the season to be jolly and eat. Everyone goes completely all out for Christmas with new outfits and a ton of delectable food. Stuffed turkey, slow-cooked beef, roasted chicken, potatoes, and every vegetable you could possibly think of. Just as you think you have eaten so much you are about to roll out of there, then the desert gets announced and you think to yourself, “Well I might as well just roll myself back to my chair and have dessert.”
Carols by candlelight
Carols by candlelight is a tradition that most people have in common. This is an exercise where you either go out in public and march the streets as a group with candles singing carols or you can go as a group door to door in your neighbourhood and do the same, but because of the dangers of being in South Africa we rather get together in our home as a family or at a public carols evening.
Elf on the shelf The elf on the shelf tradition is where Santa sends an elf from the North Pole to check on the status of the children whether they have been good or bad. To maintain that the elf is real it visits Santa every evening and is found in a new place in the house every morning.
Letters to Santa
All of us have written a letter to Santa at least once in our lives and we have carried on with that tradition. Now our children are also writing letters to Santa waiting on his reply, telling him what they want for Christmas and of course that they have been good this year. Even if they weren’t, on Christmas they will still maintain to Santa that they have been good all year long.
Watching Christmas movies
Don’t you just love festive season when the Christmas movies start? Everybody has a must-watch Christmas movie, but just in case you don’t – here are a couple that we love.
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
•Madea’s Family Reunion
• The Santa Clause
• The Family Stone.
Decorating the tree
Lights, Christmas balls, garland – these are all tree decorations. Each year assembling and decorating the tree is a highlight in most people’s lives. It’s something that they do as a family to bond and spread Christmas cheer to everyone far and near.
Fruit cake and eggnog
The love and hate war of fruit cake seems like it has been going on forever, like it or not this is yet another Christmas tradition that is here to stay. While the Americans sip down their eggnog we South Africans have yet to even know what that is so instead we settle for a lekker glass of Amarula with ice.
Photo Credit: Freepik.com
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