Christmas traditions encourage spending time with family
Christmas is a time for people to come and spend quality time together, but this looks different for everyone. Everyone has unique Christmas traditions.
“From the time I’ve been alive and conscious to participate, my family would hide a pickle ornament for us to find and whoever found it first got to open the first present of Christmas,” said Utah State University student Nathan Walker.
Most people spend time with their family during the holiday season picking out a Christmas tree, decorating, baking, gift exchanges and looking at lights.
“Every year on Christmas Eve, my family and I watch “A Christmas Story.” It’s such a funny movie and it allows us to spend quality time together,” said USU student Tiffany Croxall.
Her family also makes it a priority to look at Christmas lights every year. They typically walk around Temple Square, Luminaria or festive neighborhoods around them.
“Every Christmas Eve my family and I drive around to look at Christmas lights and then we go to dinner at Johnson’s Corner,” said USU student Attalyn Mellman. “We also go to Greeley Griswalds, which is a super decked out house that you have to wait at least 30 minutes to get in to see. It’s really cool because the lights are synced with a radio station.”
Viewing Christmas lights is such an easy activity for families to participate in during the holidays and allows families to slow down during such a busy season. Whether people go to Christmas light viewings that are drive thru, walk thru, buy tickets for or find when driving around, it’s all about spending quality time with your family.
“We listen to the Sesame Street Christmas album when we put up the tree every year,” said USU student Sam Gardner.
Baking before Christmas is also such a popular tradition. It allows for families to spend quality time together, have fun and serve others.
“We make different types of cookies, fudge, and toffee and go around and deliver it to our neighbors and friends for fun and my mom makes cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning,” Croxall said.
Having the experiences of baking with family members around Christmas is so special, especially when using a recipe that has been passed down through many generations.
“Every year we make Pebernodder cookies, which is a German cookie that tastes like the spice cardamom that was passed down from my great grandma. We make one really big batch every year and split it up to dye each section different colors, which ends up dying our hands,” Mellman said. “It takes us all day, we typically start by 10 am and end around 5 pm and it’s gone by the next morning.”
Another popular tradition families participate in is opening Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve night.
“We always get to open one gift on Christmas Eve and it’s always our Christmas pajamas,” Mellman said.
One of the many reasons people look forward to Christmas is because of their families traditions. Some traditions are very popular that most families participate in, while others are unique to just them.