Surprising Christmas Traditions From Around The World

Christmas is only 2 months away! Part of what makes Christmas so special are the traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. Have you ever thought about what people from other countries do for Christmas? It can be very interesting. Ornaments for Keeps is here to tell you about some fascinating Christmas traditions from around the around the world. 

Surprising Christmas Traditions From Around The World

India

In India, instead of handing out presents, they distribute Christmas candies, referred to as kuswar to their neighbors. They will also prepare a Christmas meal of traditional curry and newrio, which is sweet dumplings stuffed with palm sugar, sweet grated coconut, and sesame seeds.

Philipines

In the Philippines, on Christmas Eve, they will attend mass and then eat a traditional Nochebuena Feast. They don't serve dinner until 11:30 p.m. The foods typically consist of ham, bread, noodles, and rice.

Spain

In Spain, the employers gift their employees with baskets of delicious food and booze around Christmas time. 

Ethiopia

It is a tradition in Ethiopia to fast for a full 40 days leading up to Christmas, just eating 1 meal a day. That meal can only be vegan too. Also, Christmas comes on January 7 there. On Christmas, they will only eat rooster carved into 12 pieces, which can symbolize the 12 disciples and 12 hard boiled eggs, which can symbolize eternity.

Iceland

In Iceland, Santa Claus takes on a whole new meaning. Instead of Santa, they have Yule Lads. Yule Lads are mischievous guys who climb through kids windows for 13 nights wither leaving a treat or rotting potato in the shoes of children, depending on whether they were naughty or nice. 

Italy

Italians who are Catholic will typically eat seafood on Christmas Eve. In America, this tradition is referred to as the Feast of the Seven Dishes. 

A Traditional Christmas Dinner in America 

A traditional Christmas dinner in America may include some of the following fabulous dishes:

• glazed spiral sliced ham
• green bean casserole
• mashed potatoes and gravy
• sweet potato casserole
• corn casserole
• stuffing
• cranberry sauce

We can't forget about the deserts!

• pumpkin pie
• sugar cookies
• gingerbread cookies
• banana cream pie
• apple pie

"Christmas - when eating a cookie or chocolate for breakfast is perfectly acceptable." - Author Unknown

Commemorate Your Christmas Dinner Memories!

There's nothing like eating a home-cooked meal on Christmas with all of your loved ones. Even cooking those meals with your family can make for quite the fond memories to cherish as well. Whether you are baking Christmas cookies with your grandma or helping with the different side dishes that will be part of the magnificent Christmas feast, you can commemorate these memories with an ornament to hang on the tree. From one family to another, we'd like to invite you to start your very own collection of personalized Christmas ornaments. Grab a cup of hot cocoa, your favorite type of Christmas cookie, and browse through our VERY, MERRY Christmas tree ornaments simply by visiting our website. Happy browsing!

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Is There and Elf on Your Shelf?

Once upon a time, a long time ago, Santa Claus sat in his workshop at the North Pole, thinking. He knew he needed to get presents to all the good little boys and girls across the world, but how would he know who had been good that year? One day, he had a wonderful idea. He gathered his elves around him and delivered an important message. He was going to send each of them to a home with young children, where they would live from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. Each night, the elves were to travel back to the North Pole and tell Santa everything the children had done that day and if they had been good. Each morning, the elves would arrive back at the house before the children awoke so they could hide in a different place. The children would excitedly seek them out once they awoke, so they could whisper their Christmas wishes to the elves.

So goes the story of a delightful children's book, written by a woman named Carol Aebersold and her daughter, Chanda Bell. Since its publication in 2005, The Elf on the Shelf has won multiple awards and inspired many families around the world to begin their own Elf on the Shelf Christmas traditions.

The Elf on the Shelf has become a wonderful source of inspiration for all of us at Ornaments for Keeps. We fell in love with the story the first time we heard it, and we have loved getting to participate in this adorable family tradition through the creation of our personalized elf ornaments. 

This year, we invite you and your family to join in the fun! Our customized elf Christmas ornaments make the perfect elves for your children to search the house for every morning. Though we live in an increasingly digital world, we don't want the next generation to grow up without the same sense of imagination and wonder that filled our hearts when we were young. It's through fanciful traditions like these that we help keep our children's imaginations alive.

We hope you'll start a new family tradition this year by inviting the elves into your home, and we would be honored to get to be a part of it. If you're looking for some more creative ideas, check out our Elf on a Shelf Pinterest board!

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Phone: (573) 893-3272
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The Tradition of a Christmas Ornament a Year

     Our family has A LOT of personalized ornaments on our tree, each with their own story and memory. It only took one to start the trend. There are the pine cones my sister and I found in the yard and drug inside to cover with glitter (making an absolute horrid mess), the Angels made from dry noodles that we made in Bible school and of course, the personalized ornaments we got each year to highlight the activities and interests like volleyball and ice skating all the way up to graduation. Ornaments will quickly become a treasured part of your holiday tradition.
     Once your children have left the nest and have their own first Christmas tree, give them their collection of ornaments accumulated through the years so that they can bring them out every Christmas to cherish their childhood memories. Once their life takes direction they'll be able to keep the tradition alive by adding new ornaments for each milestone throughout their life and maybe one day, they'll be starting a tradition for a little one of their own.
     The different types of ornaments are endless just make sure the meaning behind it can be adored forever!


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Start Your Ornament Tradition!

What does the word "tradition" mean to you?

Traditions can appear in the form physical objects, or they can manifest as verbal or behavioral rituals. They are passed down from generation to generation, both intentionally and unintentionally. Traditions play an integral role in our lives all year long, but they are especially prominent during the holiday season. With Thanksgiving only a few weeks away and Christmas not far behind, all of us at Ornaments for Keeps thought it would be appropriate to spend some time reflecting on some of the holiday traditions we've come to love - and give some ideas for fun new traditions!

You're Participating in Traditions 

(And You Might Not Even Know it!)

Our entire culture has become so accustomed to certain traditions that we find ourselves participating in them without even realizing it! Hanging stockings by the fireplace and giving each other gifts, for example, are Christmas traditions that are observed by almost everyone in the United States. These traditions have become so ingrained in our minds that we do them without hardly even thinking about it. 

What's Your Holiday Tradition?

Beyond these over-arching traditions observed by our culture as a whole, each family has its own unique holiday traditions. These traditions can be as elaborate as your imagination allows, or they can be as simple as watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Day. Some families share a certain holiday meal every year, others read "The Night Before Christmas" every Christmas Eve, still others get personalized family Christmas ornaments every year... The opportunities for traditions are endless!

Every Tradition Has To Start Somewhere!

Some of these traditions date back longer than any of us can remember, but every tradition had to have started at some specific point in time. It's never too late to start your very own family Christmas tradition. If you're looking for a fun new tradition idea this year, consider ordering one of our Customized 2014 Family Christmas Ornaments! We design and decorate all of our personalized ornaments with the utmost care and precision in order to deliver you a wonderful start to an adorable holiday tradition. 

If you have questions or another idea for a great holiday tradition, please let us know! Connect with us on Facebook (Ornaments for Keeps) or on Twitter (@ornaments4keeps). We'd love to hear from you!

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What Type of Christmas Spirit Are You?

Christmas is a time for celebrating, for looking back on another great year, and for spending quality time with our beloved family and friends. As our lives get busier and busier, the time Christmas helps us set aside for our families becomes more and more valuable.

In addition to the time dedicated to family and friends, Christmas promises us something else - something whimsical, something magical, something we know and love as "Christmas Spirit." 

Christmas Spirit manifests itself in all of us, in the ways we prepare for and celebrate each Christmas season, and comes in three main forms. Which of these resonates with you the most?

ECSTATIC

These people are the easiest to spot. They're the ones who practically squeal every time someone even whispers the word "Christmas." We all know these people... In fact, all of us at Ornaments for Keeps are probably more ecstatic about Christmas than a lot of people we know! (Of course, you kind of have to be to work at the best personalized ornament shop in the Midwest.) 

You might be "ecstatic" if...

• Your countdown to Christmas begins in July - if not earlier.
• You begin shopping for Christmas decorations before it's even Halloween.
• Your least favorite day of the year is December 26th, because that's the farthest away from Christmas next year.
• You buy your family a brand-new customized Christmas ornament every year.

INDIFFERENT

People with "indifferent" Christmas Spirit are sometimes the hardest to spot; their casual indifference allows them to blend in to almost any setting. Personally, we can't understand how someone could be indifferent to Christmas, but we know these people exist!

You might be "indifferent" if...

• You begin Christmas shopping in the beginning of December.
• You'll go to a Christmas party if you're invited, but you never plan one yourself.
• You put up just enough Christmas decorations to keep the neighborhood kids happy.

BEGRUDGING

Yes, even Scrooge has a form of Christmas Spirit! We like to call this form "begrudging" because, like it or not, these people still participate in Christmas to some extent. They can't walk into any store without hearing Christmas music played over the radio or drive down the street without seeing at least a few twinkle lights. Whether they like it or not, Christmas is unavoidable!

You might be "begrudging" if...

• You want to lock yourself in your room the first time you hear Christmas music.
• The Grinch is your hero.
• You save your Christmas shopping 'til just a few days before Christmas - if you even go at all.

What do you think? Which form of Christmas Spirit are you? (Hint: If you're reading this... You're definitely NOT "begrudging"!)

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Is There An Elf On Your Shelf?

Once upon a time, a long time ago, Santa Claus sat in his workshop at the North Pole, thinking. He knew he needed to get presents to all the good little boys and girls across the world, but how would he know who had been good that year? One day, he had a wonderful idea. He gathered his elves around him and delivered an important message. He was going to send each of them to a home with young children, where they would live from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. Each night, the elves were to travel back to the North Pole and tell Santa everything the children had done that day and if they had been good. Each morning, the elves would arrive back at the house before the children awoke so they could hide in a different place. The children would excitedly seek them out once they awoke, so they could whisper their Christmas wishes to the elves.

So goes the story of a delightful children's book, written by a woman named Carol Aebersold and her daughter, Chanda Bell. Since its publication in 2005, The Elf on the Shelf has won multiple awards and inspired many families around the world to begin their own Elf on the Shelf Christmas traditions.

The Elf on the Shelf has become a wonderful source of inspiration for all of us at Ornaments for Keeps. We fell in love with the story the first time we heard it, and we have loved getting to participate in this adorable family tradition through the creation of our personalized elf ornaments. 

This year, we invite you and your family to join in the fun! Our customized elf Christmas ornaments make the perfect elves for your children to search the house for every morning. Though we live in an increasingly digital world, we don't want the next generation to grow up without the same sense of imagination and wonder that filled our hearts when we were young. It's through fanciful traditions like these that we help keep our children's imaginations alive.

We hope you'll start a new family tradition this year by inviting the elves into your home, and we would be honored to get to be a part of it. If you're looking for some more creative ideas, check out our Elf on a Shelf Pinterest board!

Connect with us for the latest inspired, creative ideas!

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Phone: (573) 893-3272
www.ornamentsforkeeps.com

Four Fantastic Family Christmas Traditions!

Christmas traditions are some of the best parts of the holiday season. We love watching traditions evolve and grow along with the families that create them and pass them on to the next generation! As this year's holidays quickly approach, we thought we'd help you prepare for another wonderful season with some of these great family Christmas traditions!

Christmas Cookies
If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's how much we love Christmas cookies. There's something wonderfully special about baking a bunch of Christmas cookies and spending a few hours decorating them with your family. Using red, green, and white icing (along with red hots and sprinkles), your cookies can really come to life! 

Christmas Bucket
This is a new one to all of us at Ornaments for Keeps! With this adorable family tradition, kiddos get a bucket of small packages on December 1st. Every day, they get to unwrap a little present that holds another activity, one for every day until Christmas. The activities can range from writing letters to Santa, cruising around and admiring neighborhood Christmas lights, making homemade bread dough ornaments, and anything else you can imagine!

Gift Giving
Christmas is the season for giving. Encourage your kiddos to get in on the fun by planning a week or ten days of small thoughtful, giving activities that they can help you with. Bake cookies for your mail carrier, write a thank you note to their teacher, etc. Let your kids help brainstorm ways to give to others!

Personalized Christmas Ornaments
We all have our personal favorites when it comes to holiday traditions, and it should come as no surprise that ours are personalized Christmas ornaments! Don't fool yourselves into thinking that our beautiful handmade ornaments only serve as one-time gifts; getting a new customized Christmas ornament with your name and the year can be a great way to watch the years go by.

The holidays will be here before we know it. It's definitely not too soon to start planning your holiday traditions! How do you plan on celebrating with your family?

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