Have you ever thought about how other people celebrate Christmas? There are so many traditional ways people celebrate Christmas. Me and my family celebrate Christmas Eve by first going to my dad’s side of the family and eating and hanging out with my cousins After that, we leave for my mom’s side to see them. We eat over there too and play games to win Christmas gifts! After the Christmas games, they give us our Christmas presents before leaving for my dad’s side and staying there. We also play games on my dad’s side, but it depends because sometimes we just want to hang out and talk. When it hits midnight, we give each other gifts that people bought or gotten us and then we leave home. I interviewed some other people on how they celebrated Christmas.
When asked, “How do you and your family celebrate Christmas?”
Wendy answered, “So, we go to my cousin’s house and help her set up for Christmas, put the presents under the tree and we make food and get drinks. Then we wait for everyone to get there, and we start serving them food when they get there, and we start playing music and we dance and make jokes. Then we waited until midnight to open the presents.”
Emily said, “So, for Christmas Eve, me and my family go to Seaside in Oregon & wait for my family to arrive at the air bnb. We serve food and play games all night and we even play in the snow and the sandcastles. We roast each other until one of us slips on ice. Then we wait to open Christmas presents till midnight and then we debate who’ll pay for dinner.
Some other countries celebrate differently than the USA, for example, the Philippines. If you thought the United States went all out with Christmas decorations, you should see what the Philippines does. And every year, the city of San Fernando holds Ligligan Parul (or Giant Lantern Festival) featuring dazzling parols(lanterns) that symbolize the Star of Bethlehem. Each parol consists of thousands of spinning lights that illuminate the night sky. The festival has made San Fernando the “Christmas Capital of the Philippines.“ On this website, they stated how in Japan they celebrate by gathering with family friends, and the community to show lanterns during the night. Also, in Finland they celebrate differently. “On Christmas morning, Finish families traditionally eat a porridge made of rice and milk topped with cinnamon, milk, or butter. Whoever finds the almond placed inside one of the puddings “wins”—but some families cheat and hide a few almonds so the kids don’t get upset. At the end of the day, it is customary to warm up in a sauna together.” On the same website, they state how in Finland they eat traditional porridge and they eat with family.
These countries aren’t the only ones who celebrate differently, there are so many ways people celebrate Christmas all over the world. There are also people who don’t celebrate due to religion or cultural reasons.
