BROWSE HOW TOs

How to Celebrate Christmas

By eHow Holidays & Celebrations Editor

Rate: (49 Ratings)

On Christmas Day, people gather with family and friends to enjoy a festive meal and exchange gifts as they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Christmas Gifts
Gift Ribbons
Ribbons
Tissue Paper
Gift Cards
CD Players
Christmas Stockings
Christmas Tree Lights
Christmas Tree Ornaments
Christmas Trees
Gift Bags
Gift Bows
Wrapping Paper
Christmas CDs

Step1

Send Christmas cards to family and friends wishing them a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Step2

Set up a live or artificial Christmas tree in your home. Decorate it with ornaments and lights.

Step3

Hang mistletoe in a doorway. It is traditional for people to kiss when they stand underneath this small, scented sprig.

Step4

Place lights and other decorations on the outside of your house and on your outdoor shrubs and trees.

Step5

Buy gifts for family and friends and pile them under the tree.

Step6

Hang stockings from your mantel so Santa can leave little items inside when he visits.

Step7

Ask your children to write down a wish list of the toys they would like to receive.

Step8

Share the list with Santa Claus so he can fill their requests. Expect him to arrive on Christmas Eve in a sled drawn by reindeer, carrying a red sack filled with gifts.

Step9

Play Christmas music in your house to get in the holiday spirit; some popular choices include "Silent Night" and "Deck the Halls."

Step10

Prepare a huge Christmas feast with foods such as turkey, ham, stuffing and vegetables; serve mince pie for dessert. Include other favorite recipes from your childhood holiday meals.

Step11

Attend church on Christmas Eve.

Step12

Remember that the true meaning of the season is really about giving.

Tips & Warnings

Help those less fortunate than you are at this time of year. Donate a toy for a needy child, or give food to a food drive or homeless shelter so others can enjoy a holiday meal.
Christmas is celebrated around the world in a wide variety of ways. Incorporate traditions from other cultures into your own festivities to create your own unique traditions.

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Comments

Anonymous said

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on 12/20/2005 Here are some peculiar ways that we celebrate Christmas in the Dominican Republic:

1. In the Dominican Republic we start the Christmas celebration from the end of November and it includes a game called "Angelito," which is a sort of Secret Santa Gift Exchange in which every person picks a name from a hat or a bag and give gift to that person weekly per say, and at the end they give a most gift of most value with their name on it.
2. We also have "Las Mananitas," in which everybody goes to different houses and sing Christmas carols. After they had sing we offer a Sweetened Ginger Tea aka Te de Gengibre and the person that gets the Unsweetened Ginger tea is the person that gets the Christmas Carols next time and the ginger tea has to be made by him/her.
3. The kids have gifts 3 times:
a) Santa Claus or Nino Jesus on December 25th (no need for cookies and milk).
b) The Magic Kings or Reyes Magos on January 6th.
c) The Old Bethlehem Lady or Vieja Belen on Jan., 21st (kids have to leave water and grass for the donkey).

Anonymous said

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on 12/9/2005 Christmas was for the family and religious services, but Boxing day was the day to celebrate with friends. Bosses and land owners would give holiday gifts to employee's which was the start of the holiday bonus.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 My family set up our manger cre'che on December 1st, with the Wise Men in another room. Then one of the children each day "walked" the wise men closer to the manger. They moved from a bookcase to a table top and even over the TV. Now my children walk the wise men.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Christmas time begins early in Germany. They celebrate Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas Eve. Each Sunday, a new candle in the Advent wreath is lit.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 On Christmas Eve we have a family dinner with potato soup, kielbasa, ham, herring, pierogiand sweet and sour cabbage. We pass around a blessed wafer and offer good wishes, then gather around the tree, exchange gifts and sing carols.