Holiday Traditions Throughout the Generations

When you think about the holiday season, what are some traditions that you look forward to? Where did these traditions come from? Whether you put up your Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving or sit around stringing cranberries and popcorn for garland, most families have at least one special tradition that comes alive during the holiday season.

In our family, it has always been a tradition to get the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day and decorate the house for Christmas after the turkey has been eaten. However, now that my husband and I have children of our own, we have considered going to the mountains of North Carolina the day after Thanksgiving and staying the night. The next we want to get up and visit a tree farm to cut down our very own special tree.

Many families have a tradition of ornament exchange or personalized ornament year after year. We play the Dirty Santa game with our ornament or holiday decoration exchange. Each person buys an ornament or holiday decoration and then we get together and draw numbers to see who goes first. The gift can be stolen up to three times and then its a "saved" gift for the 3rd stealer. We also buy an ornament each year for ourself and both of our children. Then, we have their name and the year engraved onto the ornament.

Another family tradition is to go see Christmas lights the week before Christmas. We have a local holiday light display in Clemmons, North Carolina, called Festival of Lights. We always drive through the light display and stop in the middle for hot cocoa and a visit with Santa Claus. When I was a child, my parents would drive us all around town to see the holiday lights that were on houses and buildings.

Of course, there is nothing like the traditional meal during the holiday season. Whether your family has turkey, ham, dressing and gravy or goes out for a nice dinner, that is a tradition that everyone always looks forward to. We always get together at my sisters house for our holiday meal. Each family brings one or two dishes and we share them, potluck style. Christmas movies and music are usually playing for extra enjoyment.