Now it is Christmas again,
Holy, sweet Christmas again
And Christmas it'll be until it's Easter.

No, wait, that's not right
No, wait, that's not right

because somewhere in the middle there comes Lent.

(Bad translation of the old Scandinavian Christmas song, "Nu ar det Jul igen." And no, I've not learnt Norwegian; I had someone once give me a real translation and that's basically what I remember of it).

Some links, because I love Christmas even if it's another two-weeks-slog until I can really enjoy it: (n.b.: some of the sites have popups. I have a popup killer [well, I use Firefox which comes with one] but if you don't, be forewarned)

Swedish Christmas Traditions (I really love the idea of the Tomte; my mother grew up in a Scandinavian-influenced part of the U.S. and we used to have little tomten as part of our Christmas decorations)

getting closer to my actual heritage: Irish Christmas traditions. I need to get out my window-candles; that was something that was derailed in the pre-Thanksgiving foofarah.

Old Scots Christmas traditions (Apparently modern-day Scots celebrate Christmas much like North Americans. Possibly because there was that period of time when the rather dour (Low Church) religionists frowned upon that sort of celebration, maybe the old traditions were lost.) However, some folks disagree with the assessment that all old traditions are gone.

And of course, there's the Big One, the culture from which many of the Victorian British (and, by derivation, North American) traditions sprang: A German Christmas. And more.

(Neither of these sites seems to mention the fact that the Christmas tree was first popularized by Martin Luther, and then brought to England by Queen Victoria's Albert, who was German.)

Advent wreaths are a nice but not universal tradition in the U.S. Every congregation I have belonged to (even though it's in the strongly Scots and British influenced Disciples of Christ) has used them.

(Incidentally, that last site has a link where you can check to see if you're on Santa's "good list" or not. When I asked whether I was, it said "Absolutely!!!")

And some American traditions. The small church I attended when I was a young teenager in Ohio did the Moravian lovefeast with the spiced buns and milky coffee on Christmas eve. It was nice and I sort of miss it.

And just for a little balance: An American Humbug. I admit I agree with some of the points. I do think that some families at least still keep Christmas in a more traditional way, and for every television advertisement promoting buying a Lexus for your dearly beloved, there is a family lighting an Advent wreath and reading from Luke, or setting a price limit (but not an ingenuity limit) on the gifts they buy or make, or who make donations to charity in lieu of more "stuff." I could go on an entire rant here about what kinds of gifts I feel are appropriately "Christmassy" and which are not, but I'll spare you. (Suffice it to say: books are good. small items that reflect the person's interests are good. things chosen with more care than expense are good. donations to a charity the person believes in are good [personally, I don't think you can do much better than Heifer Project]. if you have the talent to make something the person can use and will enjoy, that's very good.)

And ending on a happier note: this site has a taste of how in America, traditions are often a blend of different cultures.

In my own family, we have Stollen (German) and sometimes red cabbage (also German), and "cut-out" butter cookies (most likely "American" but influenced by Scotland). And white fruitcake (like Dundee cake, also Scots). Our Christmas dinner is typically roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (British). In the past, we also made lots of candy, which seems to be sort of a pioneer or Victorian-era American thing. (I miss having the time to make lots of candy; when I was in graduate school and living with my parents, I did tons of it and gave it to people as gifts). We have a tree, which started out as German but is now pretty much widespread among Christmas-celebrating cultures. We have mistletoe, which actually goes back to the pre-Christian Druids. And a nativity scene, which originated, or so legend says, with St. Francis of Assisi. Gifts are primarily smallish things (No Lexii here!) and often tend to be books or art supplies or hobby-related. The church my parents belong do does a presentation based on "Las Posadas" (southwestern U.S. influenced by Hispanic settlers) and also an Advent wreath with candles. And there's a tree, traditionally with Chrismons on it, which is another, newer, American tradition. (As far as I've been able to determine: pretty much purely American.)

One tradition I have read about that was common in early 1900s-late 1800s England (and also parts of America, I think) is the telling or reading of ghost stories around the fire. That sounds like a lot of fun - I enjoy ghost stories (which are different from horror stories, in that there is little or no gore, and sometimes the ending is funny or touching or amusing, particularly in the Christmas themed ones).

For me, Christmas is more about the going to church and the making and the special foods and the being with family and other beloved people and the having time to ENJOY. I guess I can kind of ignore the silly commercials that exhort people to buy - and so, remain relatively untroubled by their existence - because for me, what the season is about is a lot more fun than cars or jewelry or fancy electronic things.

And yes, I am well aware that nearly all of the traditions - and even the very day we celebrate - have been co-opted from other cultures, other religions. I am not bothered by that. Not in either of the ways (the fear-of-paganness-creeping-in way, nor the we-are-disrespecting-this-specific-culture-because -our-ancestors-used-some-of-its-symbology-to-mean-other-things. Number 2 would probably bother me more if either one were going to. But as I've not had any angry Druids pounding on my door and demanding I take down my wreath...)

And one last link. I PROMISE this is the last addendum to this post. But this is absolutely amusing ('twould not be so, were you those folks' neighbors, I suppose). (You need sound to fully appreciate the site). Rumor has it that the lighting technician was a lighting technician at rock concerts. All I can say is that at certain points, the house looks quite PLEASED with its own cleverness.