[tc4me]

A major difference between Christmas in the USA and Europe is the role of religion. In Europe, almost every child knows the story of Jesus and his birth in Bethlehem. Meanwhile, Santa Claus is the main character in the USA in the USA.

The Christmas season in Europe

In most European countries, the Christmas season is heralded with the 1st Advent and the opening of the Christmas markets. Windows are decorated, mulled wine is drunk, overpriced bratwurst eaten and many houses inspire with fairy lights and great window decorations. On December 24, the nativity play is performed in the churches and Christmas services invite families to sing Christmas carols together and celebrate the birth of Jesus. Families enjoy a festive or traditional meal, which varies from country to country. In Austria, a cold plate is usually served or “sausages with fish”, fondue chinoise or raclette in Switzerland, in Germany goose or roast or potato salad with sausages or fondue and in England the turkey is very popular.


On Christmas Eve, children primarily unpack their gifts, which miraculously appeared under the Christmas tree. In the evening, families spend the Christmas evening alone and watch films comfortably or use the time for joint game evenings. The Christmas holidays on December 25th and 26th are usually used to visit good friends and family at a Christmas dinner, coffee and cake. The Christmas decoration often stays stuck until the beginning of January and Christmas trees often only disappear to the festival of the Three Kings.

The USA: Santa Claus and X-Mas
In the United States, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is used to visit family and friends and send greeting. Performing dishes are often on the meal plan during these visits. Santa Claus is the focus of Christmas itself. In the United States, religion and belief in God play an important role for many families, but on December 25th. Brings Santa Claus gifts. The red reindeer Rudolph has been located by North American air defense using infrared signal for over 50 years and parents and children can inquire about the location on the Internet.


On December 24, large socks are hung up or placed on the table. On the morning of December 25th, children find that Santa Claus was there and put numerous gifts under the tree - there are many sweets in the socks. On December 26th, many gifts are exchanged in shops, after which normality quickly returns to everyday life. Decorating in the run -up to Christmas, many Americans take a little more serious than the Europeans: Not only windows or the Christmas tree are decorated, but often the entire house including the garden. In some regions, neighbors outdo each other and many streets are like a large sea of lights from colorful Christmas decoration at night.

Merry  Merry Christmas Tc4me

[Darth-Apple]

Santa Claus is DEFINITELY a pretty big part of our culture. Especially for families with young kids (it's a fantasy for a lot of children and most families participate in it). It sort of fades with time, Santa Claus isn't mentioned so much in older households though. Unlike in the movies, adults don't really talk much about it here.

Some folks celebrate Christmas in a non-religious way ("X-mas"), others still celebrate it for its Christian meaning. I come from a family that is half Jewish and half Christian, so we celebrated all of the holidays for both religions (I still do as well). December was VERY busy as you can probably imagine. Churches are also packed on Christmas eve, although we definitely don't drink wine (sometimes I wish we did, it sounds like it'd be fun!) Not everyone goes to Church on Christmas Eve, but probably about 50% of Americans do. Christianity is still fairly popular here, so even though it seems like a lot of our holidays are exclusively secular, there are still a lot of people who celebrate the religious meanings too.

One thing that I don't like about our holidays in America is how much it is centered around consumerism. People like to buy expensive things and people like to receive expensive gifts, and that often becomes the focus instead of the meanings (or the people) behind these holidays. Christmas is definitely worse than most of our other holidays about this. Corporations and businesses definitely take advantage of this too and try to make record profits in the 4th quarter of the year, often even laying off staff to do so. Winter is the worst time to look for a job in America as a result, and some of that is a direct result of the weird consumer cycles that happen around Christmas.

We do definitely love our decorations though! Especially in wealthier neighborhoods, houses will often try to compete with each other a bit (it's all in good fun of course). You can usually find big displays in the cities with massive decorations also. Christmas trees are in almost every household, and even if it's difficult to get one, we all find a way (I've packed them into the back of my Jetta before. Got a few strange looks for it, but hey, it got the job done. )

Merry Christmas to everyone in Austria as well, hope you have a wonderful holiday!

[SpookyZalost]

ah christmas... I remember getting a tree one year before I had the jeep... had to have a friend and I holding onto the rope while the tree was tied to the roof and we brought it home!

Good times.

still as consumerist as it is darth is correct in how it's celebrated here stateside... such is the life of living in a corporate run republic.

Happy holidays to all!

[Kyng]

Merry Christmas, everybody !

The consumerism isn't exclusive to the USA... it's exactly the same here in the UK . I did go to a Catholic school, which tried to give it a more religious focus - but that's all over a decade in the past for me now.

[Guardian]

I prefer to ignore the BIG 'MAS day. I just say Happy Holidays, and you all have a great one. Whatever you may celebrate.