Christmas Traditions

Christmas. What a cool time of year. And this year, I have an extra reason to celebrate. My book, ‘Hearts of Compassion’ released yesterday with Red Rose Publishing! If you want an inspirational story that takes place at Christmas, this would be a cool present for someone.

When we first moved up here to the great white north called Wisconsin, my children were angry with me around December 6th. Why, you ask? Because this area of the country is laden with people whose ancestry is Polish, Norwegian, and other colder European descent, they celebrate this odd holiday called ‘St. Nick’s Day.’ That means on the evening of December 5th, children in this area of Wisconsin get an early Christmas present. I looked it up online, and sure enough, there’s a website about Wisconsin that describes this: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=391. A woman tells exactly what we’re going through, because Santa didn’t stop at her house on December 5th and her son was upset. For the holiday, children leave out their stockings or shoes, and in the morning, a present is inside. How would someone who doesn’t know this fit into this area? It wasn’t easy, and still isn’t, even though our kids are older.

It made me wonder if there are other traditions I should concern myself with this time of year, in the event that I move away to a warmer area of the country and don’t have to worry about wind chill so cold, we eat ice cream to warm up.

I went to http://www.santas.net/americanchristmas.htm and checked out a few strange things that might make its way to various ethnic pockets in the United States. If I move to Hawaii (I wish to move someplace warm like that), there would be fireworks and Santa would arrive by boat. In California, Santa arrives on a surfboard. In Boston, carolers would be everywhere, playing hand bells. In New Orleans, a huge decorated ox is paraded around downtown.

What are your town’s unusual traditions you wouldn’t find anywhere else? Or do you even know if they’re considered ‘unusual’? What traditions does your family follow at Christmas?

Make this Christmas something special and enjoy however you celebrate! Merry Christmas!
Eryn Grace (www.eryngrace.com)