Today we started our “Christmas Around the World” unit study. With just a month between the big trip to Florida (aka culmination of our Disney World/theme park unit) and Christmas, it is a logical topic of study. I have been looking for a way to introduce the girls to other cultures. I have been desiring to expand beyond of our little bubble of middle-class America so we can gain an understanding of conditions in other societies. I want my girls to realize how blessed we are, not just by the materials things we have, but the freedoms we have. Hopefully, this little study will spark some interest in world cultures.
Today we discussed what makes Christmas so exciting. I was really pleased that all the four girls participating agreed it’s exciting to “celebrate Jesus’ birthday”...and that they were honest enough to admit that they also like receiving the presents. We then discussed the meaning of “tradition”.
Karissa: “It is something that you do on a certain day”
Lara: “How you celebrate and what you believe”
Julia: “What you do that your family has passed down”
Good ‘ole Webster: “a way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular group, family, society, etc., for a long time”
We then thought of our family’s Christmas traditions. Some cherished traditions are….
- Making a bed for baby Jesus
- Making candy cane ice cream on Christmas Eve
- Eating cake and ice cream for breakfast
- Finding Baby Jesus in the nativity on Christmas morning
- Making a “Happy Birthday, Jesus” banner on Christmas Eve
- Decorating the Christmas tree
- Caroling in the neighborhood
We considered where traditions come from. Mike & I have defined the Christmas traditions for our family...and the girls will follow some of those traditions for their future families and make some new ones based on their husbands’ family’s traditions.
Then we watched an interesting video about the history of Christmas traditions. I did not realize that Christmas is celebrated on December 25 because new Christians wanted something to celebrate around the winter solstice. They’d had festivals for years (which the pagans were still celebrating), so the church decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus at the same time.
And I was intrigued that Christmas wasn’t a big deal for early Americans. Our forefathers wanted to move away from English traditions, so Christmas didn’t make the cut of holidays to stay. It wasn’t until after the Civil War, during the birth of our industrialized nation, that American Christmas traditions took off. America was searching for ways to develop a unifying national culture. Christmas was seen as a time when all could share a commonality, and it was more about benevolence than Jesus. It took a while for Protestants to integrate Christmas, as they didn’t want to imitate the traditional Catholic mass.
Of course, the developing commercialization of the mid-1900s played a huge role in the the American Christmas as we know it. Anything to make an American buck!
As you can tell, the documentary was thought-provoking...at least for me (and it is my role to model curiosity to my family, so mission accomplished). I found “The Real Story of Christmas and Christmas Traditions” on YouTube. If you watch it, I’d love for you to share your thoughts in the comments.
I am pleased that our family has chosen to focus this season on celebrating the birth of Jesus.Last year, we really scaled back on our family gift-giving. Mike & I stuff the girls’ stockings and give a family gift. The girls have a meager budget to work with and we encourage gifts of the heart more than “things”. Last Christmas Eve, we started the tradition of caroling in our neighborhood. We see this as a way to bring joy to others & connect with our neighbors. I would like to see us reach beyond our home more with our giving, but that will come in time.
What are your family traditions?
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