Christmas Foods ***** Religious Aspects Of Christmas ***** Children at Christmas ***** Traditions at Christmas Time
Food is important to everyone at Christmas as it is a good excuse for people to eat, drink and be merry . At Christmas people usually eat traditional foods, such as turkey and pudding and mince pies, not to mention the chocolates and of course the drinks.
Preparations usually start a long time before Christmas, for example the making of Christmas cakes or puddings could take place in early November, the reason for this is because there is so much activity around Christmas that most people don't have enough time to prepare these things. People generally go and get their Christmas shopping a week before Christmas. Coming up to Christmas there is a lot of activity in the kitchen , and because this is a social occasion it is also a time for entertaining friends, neighbours and generally anyone who you know. Christmas dinner is usually a three course meal, with soup or melon or grapefruit as a starter, turkey and ham with traditional vegetables and potatoes with gravy and cranberry sauce/mint sauce. For dessert people usually have Christmas pudding with cream/ brandy butter. Many people take alternatives like trifle, ice-cream or mince pies and cream. Because Christmas is a social occasion people spend a lot more time at the table than usual and savour the festive atmosphere. The table is decorated with Christmas ornaments such as candles, festive flowers and napkins etc. Before dinner everyone pulls crackers and some people wear the party hats that you find inside during dinner. Most people have their Christmas dinner around one or two o clock, and some people like to watch the Queen's speech afterwards.
On the weeks coming up to Christmas we put up a crib containing characters from the Bible - that is Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, Animals and the Wise Men. The crib symbolises the birth of Jesus and there is a light attached to it and it is switched on at night. The light symbolises the star that brought the wise men to Bethlehem. Cribs are erected both in the Churches and smaller versions in the home.
The real meaning of Christmas is often lost with the excitement of giving and indeed receiving presents. This was derived from the Wise Men bringing gifts to Jesus. Christmas should contain an element of giving however the religious aspect of Christmas should be preserved.
On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day we go to Mass and celebrate the birth of Jesus. There is Midnight Mass which is usually between nine and twelve p.m. and this is a very special occasion.
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The children are very much involved with the preparations and the celebrations of Christmas. There is the shopping for clothes and Christmas presents for friends. There is the joy of absolutely no school, no teachers and best of all no homework for the children and for us.
Then the children can visit Santa's grotto but they know that he isn't the real Santa, that he is only his helper, but hey they get a present from him, that's all that they want!!.
There is also the excitement of building snowmen in the snow and sliding down slopes on their sledges and then who could forget about the snowball fights with everyone joining in on the fun, it always seems that the girls gang up on the boys and guess what? the girls always win!!! Sorry boys but it is true that you are all hopeless at snowball fights.
After all of this they go to visit their relatives and friends to give and receive presents, but Mummy always says, "You can't open it until Christmas morning along with all your other presents."
Now down to the serious stuff, the Christmas mass. A lot of the children have been preparing for this for a long time to make sure that they get it right, but one of them has to do something wrong at some stage during the readings or in the acting of the Nativity play. If you look at them before and after there is one big difference they aren't white any more. The children are called on to sing Christmas carols for the elderly and throughout the town, thank God it isn't us, that would be so embarrassing!!.
Christmas Eve finally comes and the children are worn out from the long mass. As soon as they get home usually mum says, "Up to bed now or Santa won't come", so there is a rush to get ready for bed and to put out Santa's food, which is Christmas cake, biscuits and don't forget the beer and the carrots for the reindeers. They put their stockings at the end of their beds for Santa to fill.
Christmas morning about 5 am the children waken and open their stockings which keeps them busy for at least an hour or two, so the parents have a longer sleep, good trick! At 7 am everyone is ready to go down stairs together to see what was left for them from Santa. Among the excitement there is paper thrown left, right, and centre, what can you expect from children.
Generally Christmas time for children is a happy and exciting occasion, then again it is the same for us too.
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