December is already here! It’s that time of year when everyone gets into the Christmas spirit and starts decorating their houses with different holiday decorations. This holiday brings joy and excitement to all our family and friends. There are various ways to celebrate this delightful holiday. Hop on the sleigh and see how Christmas became one of the most celebrated holidays. 

It all started when Jesus was born on December 25th. At first, it wasn’t celebrated but Pope Julius chose December 25th for Christmas. People believed that the church picked this date as an effort to adapt and absorb new traditions. By celebrating Christmas on the winter solstice day, they thought it would bring an embrace. Now let’s return to the sleigh and see how this holiday is celebrated worldwide following various traditions and cultures. 

An interviewee, Nmsoma Ofojebe, discusses how she celebrates this holiday: “During Christmas me and my family always wake up to pray and then we do house works and get in the kitchen to prepare our meals, drinks, and our deserts.” Not everyone celebrates this holiday like hers because there are many ways Christmas can be celebrated from many different traditions. Now let’s see how Jaqueline Paredes celebrates, “The way my family and I celebrate Christmas is special to us because we are all very excited in the morning of Christmas. We also attend church to thank God and on Christmas when Jesus is born. But every Christmas since I was young we wait till midnight to open gifts, if I’m real with you I’m not sure why but it’s how me and family do it.”  These are unique ways that they celebrate and there are many more. Now let’s see what meals they eat during this holiday.

Let’s see what type of meals Nmsoma and Jaqueline have during Christmas. “The meals we eat are fried rice, chicken, jollof rice, scrambled eggs with yam, eba, and egusi,” says Nmsoma. That sounds yummy let’s see what meals Jaqueline has,  “The meals we have during Christmas are tamales and pozole. My mom makes a big pot of tamales that can last for at least a month and yes it can tiring to eat the same thing every day but trust me they are really good.” Jaqueline says.  These meals sound good! But let’s not only look at the way they celebrate Christmas or what meals they eat but at how they decorate this holiday and how they make it meaningful or joyful. 

Christmas is a holiday that can get very decorative. Passing by different houses we can see some are decorated with lights or inflammable characters that match the theme others not. It might not be on the outside but inside their house, they could have a Christmas tree all decorated or have it nice and cozy where you feel the spirit. “We have an artificial Christmas tree that lights up 2 colors, we have a small circle welcoming thing that I don’t know what it’s called, and we have some inflatables of Santa Clause, a snowman, reindeers, and Spongebob SquarePants,” Nmsoma says. That sounds like they are in the spirit. Let’s see how Jaqueline decorates, “Every year we decorate differently, but the tree never changes, we also have a train and the tracks that go around our tree and play music but it depends if we think it won’t bug us, we also have lights outside of our house. But there is one thing that we always had which is where we build a Nativity scene where Jesus was born, so that never changes and it’s meaningful to me and my family.” Wow, that sounds nice. 

We saw how Christmas started, how different cultures celebrated it, and how they decorated it. This holiday is unique and special to others. How are you guys going to celebrate this Christmas holiday?