By: Bradley Dillon and Tyler Shaw
Every family is unique and celebrates holidays in their own way. However, families in the Southeast district, though individually distinct, share many similar Christmas traditions within the community. Some of the most common family traditions are putting up Christmas trees, baking cookies, elves on the shelves, having a family dinner on Christmas day, and spending quality time with those special to them.
Taking a closer look at some of these customs, we found that what makes these traditions memorable isn’t just the activities themselves, but the meaning behind them. Whether it’s laughing together while decorating the tree, passing down a favorite cookie recipe from one relative to another, or gathering around the table to share a holiday meal, these moments create lasting bonds that bring our community closer together each year.
Decorating the Christmas tree is an old but revered tradition. A lot of families go out to a Christmas tree farm and pick their favorite tree. They proceed to cut it down, put it in their truck bed, and take it home. Once home, the real fun begins.
Decorating and adorning this Christmas symbol in lights and ornaments breathes life into the ideology of the Christmas tree. Families are enamored with this tradition because they are with the people they love, creating new and lasting memories.
Like a lot of people, the fastest way to someone’s heart is through their stomach. Some families have a special recipe that has been passed down through generations; this has become a staple in their Christmas meal, but it is more than a recipe, it is a time to remember those who have come before, perhaps that special great-great-grandma.
These moments all lead to families just getting together and sharing pieces of their lives from the past year while “breaking bread,” enjoying a traditional family meal. These get-togethers are the most important part. Families get busy and do not always make time for one another, yet when Christmas time rolls around, people find ways to recreate bonds that may have been weakened with lost time.
Traditions represent who we are as people, as families, as a society. They knit together the past and the present; threads of a perpetually altering embroidery of the human spirit. Christmas traditions are but a vibrant, glossy strand in this tapestry.
The Pirate Post 