by Ashley Watts, Sports Editor
Does your family have a Christmas tradition?
With Christmas quickly approaching, it is time to start thinking about when you are going to get together with your family and celebrate. Most families have a certain tradition that they have every year when it comes to Christmas.
Some people go look at Christmas lights around town, while others eat a certain food for lunch or dinner. Some people go to church on Christmas Eve, and others get pajamas to wear Christmas morning. Some people go visit families in other states, while some people stay home with family.
Christmas has many traditions that are celebrated around the world during the later days of December. In England, they have crackers that have toys in them. It is a tradition to have two different people pull it apart and see what is inside. In Ireland, they put a large candle on the biggest window in the house after sunset on Christmas Eve. The candle is left to burn all night and represents a welcoming light for Mary and Joseph.
America’s Christmas traditions range from family to family. Most families get together on Christmas Eve and eat supper, while the kids track Santa Claus on the Internet. On Christmas morning the families open presents that Santa has left.
“My family attends the candle light service on Christmas Eve at our church, or we drink cinnamon hot chocolate Christmas morning,” said Lindsay Ball, biology major.
Even though America has their own traditions, some families incorporate other countries’ traditions.
“We have the tradition of Christmas Crackers and paper crowns,” said mathematics major, Samantha Friday. “We open them after we eat dinner and hang out with family. We also play games like Uno, Phase 10 and Dominos, and we catch up on what’s going on with the family.”
Even colleges and universities have Christmas traditions. At Northwestern Oklahoma State University, the university band and choir host a Christmas Gala for all to attend. The choir starts with a few traditional Christmas songs, and then the band comes on stage to play their songs.
After the band plays a few songs, the choir comes back out to sing along with the band as they play a song with everyone’s holiday favorites. Once the concert is over, everyone goes outside to do the annual Christmas tree lighting.
Everyone has their own Christmas tradition that their families do. Not everyone does the same thing, but everyone still celebrates the Christmas holiday.
“The traditions we create now will be the memories our children cherish in the future,” unknown.