December has come and with it all the joys of Christmas! It is time to eat seafood, celebrate with friends and family, but it is not what I have always done. Up until a few years ago, Christmas meant sandals, beach parties, holidays and lots of food and presents. Now I have gotten used to boots, scarves, winter coats, ice covering my car windows, and frost every morning while driving to school, and receiving gifts on the sixth of January. Everything is very different in my little tropical country, Honduras, but everything was different in Austin, the place I called home while I did my masters degree studies.
I moved to Italy two years ago and was incredibly surprised to see such different traditions. On Christmas Eve, we ate seafood and breaded vegetables. It was the very first time that I did this, even though my grandmother was born and raised here in Italy. We grew up celebrating and feasting on turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and other foods that we also have during Thanksgiving. This led me to ask myself a question… Are Christmas traditions really that different all around the world?
As I was looking up different Christmas traditions, I found a pretty interesting website that talks about things like the Christmas tree, Nativity set, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, etc. I thought I would share it with you, so you can all learn a bit about Christmas around the world! In it, you can even look up your name and see what Santa Claus or Father Christmas have to say about you which will help you find out whether or not you will be receiving gifts or a bag full of coal, (which I sometimes got for not behaving very well at school!)
http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm
May you all have a Holly Jolly Christmas, since it’s the best time of the year! May you all celebrate with your loved ones and enjoy this special time together, sharing all the love in your hearts.
See you in January, Acorn House International family!