I asked Jordan Smith, an undergraduate of Liberty University, to share some of the Christmas traditions that are favorites of her friends. It was fun for me to read these over and see how a younger generation is revering traditions their families have kept over the years. 

I recently heard another college student on the radio share how her family waits till the last minute to cut their Christmas tree, after all the good ones have been taken. As a family, they enjoy taking home the forsaken trees and dressing them up. Then someone else on the show a little more my age recalled how as a child he always was a shepherd in the children’s Christmas program at his country church. With that responsibility came memorizing a “piece” to say and that triggered my memory. How many pieces I had to say during church Christmas programs! I suffered greatly from stage fright in those days and perhaps had blocked those memories until I heard this radio conversation. But in my church, after every program, every child received a bag of colorful Christmas candy. Our reward. That, I remember fondly. –Susan 

Even in the midst of one of the most challenging, divisive, and difficult times for not only our country but also the world—holiday traditions, and the warmth they bring, persist. For many people, it is comforting to know that even in a fast-paced world, they can anticipate the holidays to be mostly the same. Certainly, there are some things that will be very different this year. I believe, however, that many of our favorite holiday traditions—whether they are done with family or others—will survive, perhaps even growing stronger than ever. 

For me, as I write this, I anticipate a small but cozy holiday season. This is my favorite time of year, and I am determined that even if I have to scale down or minimize my celebrations, I will still find ways to enjoy it. As I am currently at college, most of those celebrations will have to wait until I can come home. Yet, even at college my friends and I are finding ways to enjoy the season in a safe way.

So far, we have succeeded in putting up a small tree, hanging lights and ornaments on it, and baking Christmas cookies. A Christmas movie or two has also been watched. When I return home, I am looking forward to watching more Christmas movies, driving around local neighborhoods to see the lights hung up, and preparing a small feast on Christmas Eve with my family. Those are some of my most favored traditions. 

Now, let’s take a look at what other people do. I interviewed some of my friends and fellow students about what traditions they keep for the holidays. Their responses were varied, but one common thread ran through all of them: the love for the holiday season and the gratefulness they feel to be able to spend time with family and friends. 

My friend, Chelsea, is an online college student who is studying to become a teacher. She has been a wonderful sister in Christ to me over the years, and a great encouragement. I always look forward to seeing her over the holidays when I come home from school. She wrote to me over email and described some of her favorite traditions with her family. Here is what she said: 

“Our Christmas traditions begin the day after Thanksgiving.  We usually pull out our boxes of Christmas odds and ends and the general chaos of six different people deciding what should go where ensues.  We also enjoy making lots and lots of cookies.  We are always sure to make our classic favorites and try out a few new recipes as well. 

“One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the service our church does on Christmas Sunday.  We sing many Christmas carols and go through the scriptures, dwelling on God’s promise of a Messiah and seeing how Christ has fulfilled that promise.  It is such a special time of worship and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ!”

Vivian was one of my quad-mates (I live in apartment-style dorms) this semester. Her bright, outgoing personality brought so much joy to our dorm! Vivian’s mother is from Colombia, so her holiday traditions reflect those of her Hispanic family’s culture.

“I’d say just the way that my family does Christmas is different than most of my friends because most of my friends are American. So, my family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve actually, instead of Christmas, just because that’s the tradition. So basically, we go to our cousin’s house, and we go there around 6 on Christmas Eve. We just hang out while the parents cook Christmas Eve dinner, and we eat literally at midnight, or sometimes even later than that; and it’s just fun, because everyone else is asleep by the time we’re eating our food. Santa’s coming when we’re eating! [laughs] And then after we eat, it takes the parents forever to clean up and then bring the dessert out. And then we eat dessert at, like, 2am. And then we watch a movie, and we come upstairs when the parents are done cleaning up. We do present exchanges and we just sit around and talk about whatever is on [our] minds. 

“Then we just always, for some reason, put music on, but it’s not even Christmas music. Last year we literally put this Nigerian music on, and it was really boppy. We were all just kind of bopping to Nigerian music, and then we put this Hawaiian song on and—we’re just cultured. [laughs] We’re a cultured family. And we just kind of jam to music, and a conga line always ends up being formed for some reason, and we just go around the entire house.

“It’s just fun, and we end up going back to our house on Christmas morning around 4 a.m., and because we’re last minute, we wrap our presents that morning right when we get back. My mom starts wrapping her presents; I start wrapping my presents. So, we don’t have presents under the tree until it’s time to open them. We just kind of chill at home by ourselves on Christmas Day.

“Oh, and on Christmas Eve night we always do the nativity reading in Español so the adults can understand, because the kids are the ones who speak English. It’s fun. We just kind of jam.”

Another one of my quad-mates, Alexandra, is from Texas. “Lexi” and her family celebrate Christmas a little differently than Vivian and her family do, but they still have their own special traditions. 

“I would say—I like gift giving. I just get excited to think about what my other friends want, and shopping for them—because then I have an excuse to shop—and seeing their reactions. It’s just, like, a fun process. And also, obviously spending time with family, because that’s when I get to see my extended family as well. And even though we’re all kind of different, we just kind of [are] one happy family for like two days.”

Charity is in my program of study and is also from Texas. She told me about some of her favorite traditions and the things she looks forward to each year around the holidays. 

“Some of my favorite Christmas traditions involve food. My family’s really big on food. So, like, on Christmas morning my mom will always make homemade hot chocolate, and my dad will always pick up—a few days before—this Christmas coffee cake from this one bakery in Dallas. I couldn’t tell you what it’s called, but it’s like a Christmas coffee cake, and it’s really good, and we always get it every Christmas morning. So, we have the Christmas coffee cake and the homemade hot chocolate, and sometimes we’ll make other things.

“We normally will try to go view Christmas lights and see different neighborhoods. There are a few neighborhoods we try to get to. But we don’t always get to that every year.”

Hearing about other people’s Christmas activities brought a lot of joy to me, and I hope that you also enjoyed getting to peek into the traditions of other families. Maybe sometime during the Christmas holidays this year, when all the extended family is assembled, (if that is even possible this year), it would be fun to let each person share what traditions they enjoy the most. 

But celebrating the birth of Jesus as He came down in the form of a baby to save us from our sins is one of the greatest encouragements that we can dwell on no matter what time of the year it is. As fun as our traditions may be, none are as important as remembering and meditating on the real reason for the season. This year, I pray that we can remember to rejoice in that hope!

Isaiah 9:6: “For to us a child is born, and to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”