Hello and welcome back! Can you believe it’s four days until Christmas Eve? Where I live, in Austria, Christmas Eve is the real deal. Christmas Day is more like an afterthought. Yes, there’s goose or turkey, but the countdown in this country is for Christmas Eve. Why? Well, for starters, we open our presents on the 24th, not the 25th. In Austria, it’s also not Santa Claus who delivers the presents, but the Christchild (we’re a Catholic country).

For me and my family, it’s always been about fusing traditions. My grandmother is American, my mother comes from a small, east-Austrian village where Christmas means opulence, kitsch and lots of presents. And we grew up in more traditional Tyrol, in the west of Austria, where the Christmas trees are humble (don’t worry, mine isn’t), and it’s all about “Besinnlichkeit”. The literal translation for “Besinnlichkeit” is contemplation, but, as so often, it lacks in transferring the actual meaning. “Besinnlichkeit” is the feeling of quiet joy, of sitting together, it’s the vibe that gave you “Silent Night, Holy Night”, instead of “All I want for Christmas is you” or “Santa Claus is coming to town”. Austrian Christmas is not party and loud and sparkly. It’s humble, demure, about the Jesus baby in his manger – that is “Besinnlichkeit”.

When you have different backgrounds, celebrating the holidays can be very interesting. Fusing traditions, adapting old ones, incorporating new ones. Christmas becomes a cornucopia of different ways to celebrate.

We celebrate on the 24th in the evening. Most Austrians also put the tree up on the 24th (because the day isn’t stressful enough as it is). Traditionally, the mother puts the tree up in the morning, and then the “Stube” (an old-fashioned living room) is shut for the day. In the evening the Christchild comes and rings a bell, and then the children enter the living room, seeing the decked tree for the first time with all the presents underneath.

While this tradition has some benefits (like, not having your tree be a crisp corpse by Christmas Day), I feel like it adds a lot of stress for the mum on the 24th, and also takes away from the Christmas mood beforehand. For me the best Christmas time is before. Christmas, for me, is the peak but also kind of the end of the season. I often throw up my tree already on the 1st of January (but also put it up in early December) because I’m done with Christmas come the new year. I want to see my Christmas tree when I watch Christmas movies, sip cocoa and I want to decorate it with my kids. On the other hand, we have a traditional turkey lunch on Christmas Day with all the trimmings and crackers.

The How we celebrate has established itself over the years and keeps adapting every year as the children grow older. But recently I saw a post online that said you shouldn’t celebrate Christmas at all if you’re not Christian. We are atheists/agnostics, so definitely not religious, and it made me thinking why we celebrate Christmas.

I did, however, come to the conclusion quickly that Christmas is way more than a religious holiday in the western world. It’s part of our culture. I mean, on the paper we are a secular state (not so much in many details, but that’s a different topic), so why do we even get time off for Christmas, you might then ask.

The question is also how much you include of the biblical story, or the “Why” we celebrate Christmas. In our family, the Bethlehem story is well-embedded into our Christmas traditions. We even have an annual replaying of the shepherd’s search for the Jesus Baby. For that, one of us, with a little clay Jesus in tow, marches off and leaves grave candles in his or her trail, symbolising the light of the star. The others (the shepherds) follow the trail until we all meet in a setup (usually in the woods), where the baby Jesus lies in the manger (a basket with hay) and we sing Christmas songs and my father tells the Bethlehem story.

Whenever I tell people this tradition, which was started by my religious parents, they are confused. Knowing me as a clearly non-religious person, they wonder why I would do such a Jesus-themed tradition. The answer is manifold. First, I grew up doing it and have fond memories of it. Second, it’s a great way to get out of the house, peek into the houses as they get ready for the Christmas Eve extravaganza and get fresh air. And, Jesus WAS born on Christmas (which he actually wasn’t, but, again, another topic). What I mean is, his birth is the reason this holiday exists, so why not incorporate it? It doesn’t have to have a strong religious odour to it. My kids love the clay Jesus baby and looking in mangers and spotting the baby. It’s just a nice story to tell (as opposed to Easter, for example).

For us, it’s just a nice story. We love telling it, but it doesn’t mean our saviour has born. But it is nice. And it gives Christmas another layer, apart from presents and food. Something slightly nostalgic and cosy – something “besinnlich”.

Another reason is that Christianity took this time period for festivities from pagan cultures. The time around the winter solstice has always been a ritual-heavy time with something to celebrate. And as we grew up in this part of the world with Christmas, it’s just our winter solstice ritual. And we love it.

So, it’s only four days until Christmas and I still have to wrap a few presents, ogle my beautiful Christmas tree, eat some cookies and get my kids from their last day at Kindergarten and nursery (I should maybe start with that).

Enjoy the season, regardless how and why you celebrate 🙂