When Christmas comes, everyone gets excited (or stressed). Whether it’s buying presents, or receiving them, or putting up decorations, everyone has something that just hits home with the holidays. Today, we see Christmas as a holiday related to Jesus. But in reality, it actually started with a Norse/Pagan holiday called Yule.
Yule was meant to celebrate the ending of the worst days of winter. It was a large celebration to welcome the longer days and the warmer weather. This holiday started on December 21st, the Winter Solstice, and went on through into January. Men would bring home large logs. They would burn these logs, and they would feast until the log burnt out. This is how we got the tradition of Yuletide Logs.
Over time, as Pagan religions slowly became the smaller religions, and Christianity became a large religion, Yule changed to Christmas. The holiday was then changed to honor Jesus of Nazareth.
Common traditions that people have with Christmas are things like baking cookies, or hanging stockings. People will also watch common Christmas movies like The Grinch (the good one with Jim Carrey, obviously), Home Alone, or A Christmas Carol. And don’t forget decorating a tree and putting a star or angel as a tree topper.
Though, when it comes to traditions, every family is different.
Each year, my family will watch every Harry Potter movie in order. My entire family is full of people who love Harry Potter, most of us having read the books several times. For me, I remember watching the movies all the time and wanting to be a wizard. I even had a Harry Potter birthday party when I was 11. The movies have always been something that brought my family and I closer together. So, on the days leading up to Christmas, we watch Harry Potter. Sometimes, we end up catching things that we’ve never noticed before. We like to make a game out of it.
We also try to do something new each year. Changing how we hang the stockings, how we decorate the tree, what foods we make. There is always something different. This year, my mom DIY’d a Christmas tree. She took long wooden boards and set them up. She wrapped it in garland (she made several trips to Walmart because it’s a 7ft tall tree) and she bought new ornaments to hang on it. As well as making the tree this year, we also keep hiding a cow ornament in the tree. It wasn’t something we said out loud that we would do, it’s just something that we started doing.
To keep the Christmas spirit alive with my younger siblings, we also have two Elves. We hide them around the house, and it’s always an adventure trying to see where we should put them next. My favorite thing to see is when my mom will hide them, and make a mess to make it seem like the elves did it. My step-dad hates the mess, but it makes my little sister and brother go nuts. They love to see what the elves will do. It’s always so fun getting to see them get excited over two little elves.
Every year, we start the Christmas season early by setting up the tree after Thanksgiving dinner. We started a little late this year because of the DIY tree, but it still ended up looking amazing. Decorating the tree is always a big deal in my family (my little sister likes to make fun of the ornaments I made in Kindergarten). And it’s always a battle to see who will get to put the tree topper on. I would say star, but we don’t use a star every year. One year, we used a pink fluffy crown my mother and I found at Walmart. It’s always fun to see who will put it on each year.
