Tradition gives us the opportunity to lay out our Christmas holiday activities well in advance. We can prepare a plan of action, and organize our holiday events using a true and proven site map. That takes off stress from last minute activities, e.g., the frantic search for needed holiday decor, or the headache of coming up with the right holiday menu.

But what shall we do, if our family does not have a Christmas holiday tradition yet? Simply, we create our own tradition. Let’s open the music box of our own childhood memories. What was it that made Christmas holidays so special? Was it the heavenly scent of cinnamon, orange and fir, all woven into the air in a potpourri of Christmas promise? Or do we remember mother’s Christmas story at candlelight? Was it the holiday music that touched our heart? With our own Christmas holiday memories at heart, let’s manifest our own family Christmas tradition! Here are twelve ways!

1. Build the excitement and joy up in your and your family’s heart. Start by decorating your home to invite Christmas promise into your family’s life. My mother used to decorate every picture in our home with a little fresh and wonderfully smelling fir twig. When we saw that mother was preparing for the holidays, excitement built up in our lives.

2. On December 1st, we brought in a fir wreath with four candles. Often three of those candles were purple, but one was pink. Living through the first two weeks, we children were eagerly looking forward to the third Sunday when the pink candle of Joy and anticipation was lit.

3. Of course, we had an Advent calendar and one of us was allowed to open a window each day. This meant that we children went to great length to ensure that we were good kids – cleaning up our rooms, removing the trash, washing the dishes, etc. – so every one of us got a turn to open a window.

4. It was custom that a Madonna statue was carried from house to house in memory of Maria’s search for a place to give birth to her child. So when it was our turn to open our family door and heart to Maria, our mother would bathe the room in warm, gentle candle light. We sang the old carols and prayed. It was an honor to accommodate the statue for one night, and every family tried to prepare a special welcome.

5. On the 4th of December, mom would bring in St. Barbara twigs from the garden. These cherry twigs, now brown and barren, will open their blossoms in the holy night. We watched the Barbara twigs carefully every day with excitement and wonder. Because out of these seemingly dead brown twigs, soon little green leaves would develop in the warm family room.

6. The 6th of December was St. Nicolas Day. That was a day of joy for children. In the window we would find a red crackling plastic sack with apples, mandarins, nuts and chocolate. But in our family it was also tradition that St. Nicolas would visit in person. I remember one special visit, when St. Nicolas admonished my little brother who was very bad to me at the time. The little guy did not know that anyone would know – especially not St. Nicolas, the old wise man with the sparkling eyes and the long white beard, who supposedly came directly from heaven into our home. From that day one, my little brother did not bother me ever again. I guess he learned his lesson.

This ends Part I of our Family Christmas Holiday Traditions. Be sure to read Part II also. We’ll discuss the traditional Christmas celebration, share a beautiful and moving Christmas story, and much more.

When Christmas holiday draws near, don’t let yourself be burdened by stressful last minute holiday preparations. Follow your time proven family holiday tradition – and if you don’t have a holiday tradition yet, manifest your own! Utilize some of the suggestions I shared with you from our own family Christmas holiday tradition.

Maria Schasteen is editor of aroma-essence.com, Nature’s Most Trusted Therapeutic-Grade Essential Oils Store. Look for Christmas Spirit, Joy, and Essence of the Season to support your Christmas holiday tradition because scents stay with us forever.

Author: Maria Schasteen
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Christmas Ornaments

One of the favorite types of Christmas crafts for families is creating handmade ornaments for the tree. One reason that this type of craft is so popular is because there is a plethora of possibilities. You can make reindeer out of candy canes, wreaths out of Fruit Loops or simply purchase an ornament kit from your local craft store and follow the instructions inside. There are numerous books and websites that you can research to get ideas for your Christmas crafts or you can make it easy on yourself and recreate some of the masterpieces that you made as a child.

Table Decorations

Every holiday table needs plenty of embellishment, and Christmas crafts can fit the bill here as well. You can make napkin rings out of felt and baubles, or a candle holder by decorating baby food jars with paint and glitter. For older children who can use tools like glue guns, you can make candle rings out of a wire form that you glue pine cones and greens to. Or you can try your hand and a festive centerpiece with silk flowers, greenery and candy canes. For an easy Christmas craft, you can make a vase out of an old can and candy canes, by gluing the sticks all the way around the outside of the can. Fill with pine boughs or fresh flowers, and you have a festive focal point for any holiday table.

Food Crafts

Take your love of Christmas baking a step further by creating edible Christmas crafts with your family. Gingerbread and sugar cookies can make wonderful tree ornaments, as long as you poke a hole in the top of the cookie before it is baked. Or you can decorate a gingerbread house together that will adorn your holiday buffet table. And if you are looking for gifts in the form of Christmas crafts, let your kids help you create trail mix, cookies or Christmas candies, and find a creative way to package them for your neighbors. You are guaranteed to be the most popular house on the block when your goodies are delivered!

Christmas is the perfect time to put your heads together and get creative as a family. Who knows? traditional crafts may become the most popular tradition of the season.

Caroline Bourke is a full time beauty therapist in Florida. Check out these great Christmas Crafts resources and articles or the more specific Christmas Craft Ideas articles and advice.

Author: Caroline Bourke
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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One of the aspects which separates holidays from all the rest of the year is food. For each and every holiday there may be special foods with which the holiday is associated. Christmas especially is known for its abundance and variety of foods and drinks. As one of the world’s great melting pots America has a melting pot cuisine, with dishes originating from around the globe. There are foods from a number of different countries which represent traditional meals for holiday celebrations such as Christmas.

Christmas comes almost one month after Thanksgiving in the United States. For Thanksgiving, the traditional meal consists of roast turkey or ham as the main dish. This is also true of Christmas as roast ham, turkey, Capon or duck is one of the principal dishes to be served for dinner. As at Thanksgiving, cranberry sauce, assorted vegetables, apple or pumpkin pie and fruit cake for dessert top off a traditional Christmas dinner. Mince meat pie, filled with a mixture of chopped, dried nuts and fruit can also be an addition to to a traditional Christmas dinner. Drinks served during the Christmas holidays include a wide variety of both hot and cold beverages such as apple ciders, hot toddies, and egg nogs as well as wines. Due to the cold weather that is predominant in many countries at Christmas time, hot beverages and hard liquors are highly popular.

The Christmas Holidays are Sweet

The Christmas holidays are sweet ones. Americans enjoy large quantities of sweets, candies, cookies, cakes, pies and desserts of all types during the Christmas holiday season. Gingerbread, sweet breads, sweet rolls and other holiday treats are an indispensable addition to the Christmas holiday season. Candy and chocolate manufacturers produce special packages and types of candies for the Christmas and New Years holiday seasons.

In 2004 was conducted by the National Confectioners Association. This survey discovered that many adults at Christmas received as much pleasure from giving and receiving chocolates, sweets and candies as from other types of gifts and presents. Survey participants said giving special cakes, chocolates and candies to friends and family, placing candy canes in Christmas stockings or hanging them on Christmas trees were some of their favorite ways to share during the holidays.

Forget Diets at Christmas Time

Forget diets at Christmas time. People usually feel free to eat and enjoy the holiday season without any guilt over what (or often how much) they may eat or drink. The tradition of baking and eating gingerbread cookies at Christmas is thought to originate in Germany, coming to the United States by immigrating Germans. When the Grimm Brothers published their story, Hansel and Gretel, German bakeries began baking fancy gingerbread houses with icing and other decorations. The story of “Hansel and Gretel” described a house made of sweet bread, a pastry roof and windows of sugar glaze. German bakeries made cookie cutters formed in different shapes like little people, houses and household animals which were used as decorations on Christmas trees.

The Gingerbread Man

In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania around a hundred years ago, German immigrant homes had cookies up to a foot high in the windows as decorative ornaments during the winter months. The cookies were often gingerbread men and women with colorful rows of hard candy buttons, bows and big smiles. Passersby, fascinated at seeing these unique decorations carried the idea to their homes. The enjoyment of the many types of special foods and dishes, candies, cakes, pies, cookies and treats during the Christmas holidays provides a unique flavor to Christmas. The Christmas holiday season’s favorite foods create many warm and cherished holiday memories.

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7. When the holiday draws nearer, we children got more and more excited. When we were high-spirited and tempestuous, mom just needed to say. “Look, an angle’s hair!” And we would look in awe and see really a golden hair. Little did we know that mom must have made some gift packages and the golden threat must have fallen on the floor. But for us children this was a sure sign that Christmas was near. Mom left signs of the coming holy night everywhere for us, so we would remember to be good, and patient, and kind. This made it easier for us children, who yearned for that long awaited Christmas Day!

8. Then, one day the wait was over – the 24th of December dawned. We children had to take a little afternoon nap – I am sure mom needed the time to make last adjustments to the Christmas tree and the arrangement of our Christmas presents. In Europe the Christmas tree is the highlight of the 24th. The tree is hidden from view for children, and for the first time seen in the holy night when the door to the Christmas room magically opens. The room is locked already the night before Christmas. We children were especially attentive – maybe we would hear a movement in the Christmas room – maybe an angle came by – or the Christkind personally – to bring presents!

9. The nap on the 24th was very hard for us kids. Who can sleep when such an excitement lies in the air? When we finally got up, we laid on our best clothes. Then mom came with the traditional Christmas storybook! It was a story of a little boy named Heinele, who’s mother had sent him out in rags into the bitter cold winter night to sell toys to the busy people on the streets – who rushed home to their family celebration without even noticing him. The boy went into the woods and as he looked in the snow – lonely and ice cold – he found the Golden Star of Christmas.

At the same time in heaven, the angles were hectic, looking for the Golden Star that Christkind had lost as it flew over the winter world on earth. Finally they found the frozen boy, holding the Golden Star tight in his hand. He was dead. They took the boy into heaven. Here it was warm. It gave plenty to eat, and Heinele was truly happy – probably for the first time in his young life. But the good boy, as he saw that his mother in the cold house down on earth was crying because her child did not come home, returned to earth to comfort his mom, bringing her true Christmas love. Love reigned over the joy and comfort of staying in heaven. A true sacrifice.

And while we children hang on every word that came from mom’s lips, suddenly – first faint but then louder – we heard the clear Christmas bell. It signaled that Christkind was here! We would rash to the Christmas room. The doors silently swung open. And we would stand there in awe, still and devout, our wide open eyes reflecting Christmas Spirit. The Christmas tree would stand in all its magic beauty – brightly shining with many real candles and magic stars. We would sing Christmas carols and dad would read the Christmas story from the Holy Bible.

Finally we children could rush to our Christmas presents – many big and little gift-wrapped boxes in all colors, decorated with beautiful ribbons and a fir twig on each gift box. We had each a little extra corner right under the Christmas tree, and close to the crib where Maria and Josef and the beautiful baby would remind us of the reason for our joy. To find our space, the packages had little cards with our names on them. And the Ah and Oh was great!

10. And mom did not forget the lonely people outside. She put a warm shining candle in each window to greet those who were lonely and cold this night.

11. The Christmas dinner was another highlight of the day. We had our traditional fish dinner with potato salad which I loved. The table was set with grace and glister. Each set had a mandarin that held a Christmas candle. Fir twigs were decorating the table. It was festive and the candle light reflected in our smiles!

12. The Midnight Christmas mass was for the older kids. I remember sitting in church and seeing the happy smiles on every face. This alone showed me that in this special night a miracle must have occurred. I could see the new hat, the new shawl, new boots that people were wearing. Everyone had something new this night. And if it was not a new piece of cloth, it was the renewed hope and light in their heart that held the promise that life is good and all is well, no matter the life circumstances.

Today I am old. My children are out of the house and I am alone again. But at Christmas time, I still remember my family’s holiday tradition: the haunting scent of Christmas; the dazzling light that lightens the eye that looks into the world with hope; music and laughter that fills the hearts and the room at Christmas eve. I thank my parents for the wonderful Christmas tradition that they had given us – a tradition that lives on …

When Christmas holiday draws near, don’t let yourself be burdened by stressful last minute holiday preparations. Follow your time proven family holiday tradition – and if you don’t have a holiday tradition yet, manifest your own! Utilize some of the suggestions I shared with you from our own family Christmas holiday tradition.

This is Part II of our Family Christmas Holiday Tradition. (Read Part I also for great holiday ideas.)

Maria Schasteen is editor of aroma-essence.com, Nature’s Most Trusted Therapeutic-Grade Essential Oils Store. Look for Christmas Spirit, Joy, and Essence of the Season to support your Christmas holiday tradition because scents stay with us forever.

Author: Maria Schasteen
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Whatever you choose, consider making it a tradition each year to enjoy the same snack or meal while making your home festive for the holiday. One of the traditions at our house that has extended to the third generation is our Christmas morning menu always revolves around oyster soup and Christmas bread…before gifts are opened.

New Christmas pajamas is another tradition that evokes good memories and adorable pictures. If gifts are opened Christmas morning, let the children open one gift Christmas Eve – the new Christmas pajamas. Consider having a slumber party while waiting for Santa! Dress everyone in a new pair of Christmas pajamas and play games, sing Christmas carols, or watch Christmas movies during your Christmas Eve festivities.

Another tradition the children (in their holiday pajamas) will enjoy, is making and decorating homemade cookies to leave out for Santa and his reindeer. Package the extras in pretty containers to deliver to friends and family on Christmas day. Children love to “camp out” so consider sleeping in sleeping bags in front of the Christmas tree one night. Munch on snacks, leave the lights on all night, and make a special memory!

There are fabulous fabrics – fleece, velore, flannel and other fabrics available that make wonderful children’s Christmas pajamas. You might want to start a new Christmas tradition and take advantage of some spare time during the summer. It’s a proud moment when you can check something off your holiday ‘to-do list’ long before the stress and pressure of the holidays hit and you can look forward to the pictures of the children in their new Christmas pajamas that you made for them.

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The first weekend in Advent is when the big, daily Christmas markets in the cities get going – Nuernberg, Munich, Regensburg and Passau all have lovely markets within easy reach of here – 2 years ago we sampled all of them (especially the Gluehwein!), to make sure we could recommend them to visitors! Although you can buy presents at the big Christmas markets, the main function of most Christmas markets, and especially the smaller ones, is social – groups of friends and families meet to chat and sample the Gluehwein and various specialties offered in the wooden huts by local clubs and societies, farms and small producers. The markets get going as darkness falls and continue until mid evening. During December, the smaller towns and villages have their own Christmas markets for just a weekend or even just a day.

6th December is the name day of St. Nikolaus. But ‘der Nikolaus’ actually comes on the evening of 5th December, with his companion, a little devil called ‘Krampus’. Nikolaus brings small presents, nuts, oranges and apples to the houses in the village for the children. Sometimes the children recite a poem or play a piece of music for him. Nikolaus then lists the good and bad things the children have done during the year, often in the form of a rhyme. The Krampus may punish them if they have been particularly bad during the year! An old tradition in Bayerisch Eisenstein is ‘Nigeln’. Children or adults go out on the streets on the evening of 5th December, dressed as Krampus, and others tease them and are then chased. The children enjoy this as they have to try to escape.

In mid December, before the holiday season started, our village had a big Christmas party for the whole village in the village hall. The ladies baked again and various musical and singing groups in the village provided entertainment – from the Kindergarten children singing about the ‘Weihnachtsbaeckerei’ to the men of Regenhuette singing local forest songs.

The Christmas celebrations really got underway in Bayerisch Eisenstein on 21st December, with a concert in the beautiful Catholic Parish Church of St. Nepomuk. A brass ensemble played haunting music, interspersed with harp music and songs.

On 23rd December, more than 1,000 visitors – residents of the village and surrounding area and holiday guests – visited the 1st International Christmas Market in Bayerisch Eisenstein. The international theme was chosen to celebrate the location of the village in the centre of Europe and directly on the border with Czech Republic, previously site of the barbed wire of the ‘iron curtain’, which finally disappeared on 21st December when Czech Republic joined the Schengen area. As well as Bohemian specialties from over the border, visitors enjoyed Bavarian specialties, also English mince pies (provided by the English organisers of the market, Margaret Leach & Martin Holborow), Belgian waffles, Thai soup, Hawaiian fruit punch, French crepes and many more, all provided by residents of the village and the neighbouring town of Zelezna Ruda. Music was provided by musicians from the village.

Christmas services took place in the Protestant and Catholic churches on 24th December and the restaurants all closed early to allow their staff to spend at least part of the evening with their families. British guests at Haus Sterr (25 of them!) sat down to an early Christmas dinner at a village restaurant – now an annual event.

On Christmas Day, 25th December, the restaurants were all open for business again and the skiing on the Arber mountain was in full swing.

Boxing Day, 26th December, is the traditional time for the village ‘Heimat Abend’ – with displays of traditional dancing by adults and children, traditional music and, the highlight, the Schuhplattlers.

The local singing group performed Bavarian and international songs, accompanied by Gluehwein and waffles on 27th and Saturday 29th was the day for Bayerisch Eisenstein’s big, boisterous Apres Ski party, which was a sell out.

The New Year was welcomed as usual with a massive display of fireworks all over the village and the season was rounded off by the village’s own New Year’s Day Concert: Bavarian and Czech waltzes, polkas and marches, mixed with reading by Mayor Thomas Mueller.

Margaret Leach – http://www.bavarian-forest-holidays.com

Author: Margaret Leach
Article Source: EzineArticles.com