The holidays are a time of food, family, friends and fun. However, there’s one more thing you need to add to your holiday plans: health. The holiday season ushers in a lot of comfort food not normally eaten during the rest of the year. Generally, comfort food isn’t well known for being the healthiest food [...]
The real meaning of Christmas is often expressed as being about giving to others during the season. Giving can take many forms, but during the Christmas season the most obvious way in which giving is done is by preparing beautifully wrapped Christmas presents for family, friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, teachers and others such as business [...]
It could be said that since it was the birth of a baby as a gift to mankind that gave rise to Christmas, then children should also and always be the primary focus of the season. Individual families will say they have always put children first and parents will sacrifice seeking their desires at Christmas [...]
It’s only fitting that since Santa Claus has the magnificent capability to visit homes around the world in a single night that more than one place would claim to be his home. It’s common belief that Santa hails from the wintry North Pole, but folks in Finland will also tell you that Santa calls that [...]
Christmas music in the form of carols, songs stringed or instrumental renditions, is constantly heard during the Christmas season. Music forms the background against which everything else takes place to make the Christmas season different from all others. Christmas music plays such a significant role that during the entire season, other popular music temporarily disappears [...]
The tradition of caroling and Christmas carols is believed to have originated in England when wandering musicians would go from town to town and visit castles and other homes of the rich to give impromptu performances. But there also is the belief that singing carols at Christmas likely came from the group of angels, shepherds [...]
Favorite foods enjoyed by Americans for any given holiday, season or special occasion will likely include some ethnic dish, given the many ethnic groups that reside in the country. Despite this variety of melting pot cuisine, there are some similarities in dishes that will be a part of most meals during celebrations such as Christmas.
Christmas [...]
Given the many types of Christmas trees available and the various ways in which they can be bought, it’s important to know certain qualities that a Christmas tree should have so that it will be suitable for decorating and will also last through the season.
One of the most important qualities a Christmas tree should have [...]
The decoration of Christmas trees has evolved and undergone many changes, much like many of the early traditions of the Christmas season. Christmas tree lighting that started out with real candles underwent probably the biggest change when electric light became commercially available and special Christmas tree lights were manufactured. It is therefore not surprising that [...]
Christmas as celebrated today is a culmination of centuries of traditions that are religious and secular and which came from different countries around the world. It is interesting therefore to look at some of the general ways in which Christmas is celebrated in these countries. The traditions examined for each country will be examples of [...]