Holiday Habits

In the USA the winter holiday season is the most popular among all the other holidays and rightfully so.
The Christmas spirit, family and the food all make it something to look forward to. And as if these
weren’t enough people in the US have some other traditions they follow and pass onto the next
generation.

Before Christmas people in the US celebrate Thanksgiving which is a holiday celebrating the harvest and
blessings of the past year. It is said to be modeled after the feast that the English colonists shared with the
Wampanoag people in harmony. However nice this may sound, Thanksgiving has notoriously been
criticized for being historically inaccurate and euphemistic as it erases the underlying tragedies and
genocide that happened on that day. With that being said many people choose to acknowledge
Thanksgiving's problematic history and instead see it as a holiday for gratitude and spending time with
family.
Thanksgiving is famous for its traditional foods and overindulgence. Traditional Thanksgiving foods
include stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce. An interesting tradition unique to the
US is the breaking of the wishbone which is the bone at the base of the turkey’s sternum. The tradition says
that two people hold the two ends of the wishbone and wish for something, then together they break the
bone and whoever gets the bigger piece, their wish will come true. This holiday is also said to be the
busiest of all as families from all over the country go home to celebrate. And as the whole family comes
together some conflict always arises. This is a running joke as people from the US joke about the political
differences and old family drama. Another tradition often joked about is the concept of the kids table at
Thanksgiving dinners and how kids want to grow up so they can finally sit at the adult table. This concept
has been parodied by cartoons, movies and late night show comedy sketches.

Christmas is an even bigger holiday compared to Thanksgiving. The traditional food is similar to the
example of the Christmas turkey. There are Christmas celebrations that aren’t unique to the US and are
present in Europe as well, for example decorating Christmas trees, gift giving, hanging stockings above the
fireplace and Secret Santa. However there are some Christmas traditions which are, if not exclusive, but
predominantly followed in the US. For example, Christmas caroling. Christmas caroling is usually done in
smaller groups of 4-10 people who go around the neighborhood and sing a Christmas carol. Though it’s
very popular, most people don’t like it as they feel uncomfortable with the idea. Most other traditions are
related to Santa Claus. Children write letters to St. Nick and leave cookies and milk out the night before
Christmas, some even leave out carrots for Santa’s reindeer. Often people also bake Christmas cookies and
make and decorate gingerbread houses as well.
One tradition that is quite widespread is the mistletoe tradition. The tradition states that if two people stand
under the mistletoe they have to kiss. This actually comes from ancient Greece in wedding ceremonies and
other festivities because of the plant’s association with fertility and peace.

Though these holidays and traditions have appeared in movies, series and other forms of media these
depictions are often unrealistic but we may never truly know how unrealistic. To figure out if these
traditions are actually as popular as sources suggest or if they've been commercialized to the point of fiction
I interviewed an American friend of mine.

Lily: How would you describe the holiday season in the US?
Sibley: In the US, most people celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's during the autumn
and winter seasons. However, it's worth mentioning that the "holiday season" commonly isn't considered
to start until the day after Thanksgiving, where it then primarily revolves around the celebration of
Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanza before coming to an end with New Year's celebrations.

It's difficult to explain the holiday season in the US as just one thing or experience because there's so
much variety in what and how people celebrate here. People's experiences greatly vary depending on the
individual, their family and the community they grew up in or are currently a part of. I think a lot of
people think of Christmas in the US as this classic, traditional depiction of the holiday shown in movies
and other media, when it's actually made up of many different traditions and individual experiences. A
large majority of the US does however celebrate Christmas and go about it in a way that is very similar to
what is shown in the media, I just think solely focusing on that when describing the experience of an
entire country of people only contributes to this over generalized concept of what the holidays are like in
the US.

Lily: Does your family celebrate Christmas and/or Thanksgiving? How big of a deal is it?
Sibley: My family celebrates Christmas! It's a really important holiday to them because my family is
Christian, but (for those who celebrate it) Christmas is a pretty big deal in the US in general. A lot of it
could probably be chalked up to nostalgia and the marketing surrounding Christmas, but I think people
just generally really enjoy the holiday and being able to have something to celebrate at the end of each
year while spending time with the people in their lives.

We also celebrate Thanksgiving, but it's not as important of a holiday to my family as Christmas is.

Lily: What are some traditions associated with Christmas in the US? Does your family follow
them?
Sibley: Some common traditions associated with Christmas here are decorating your home, putting up a
Christmas tree & Christmas lights, Hanging up Christmas Stockings near your tree or fireplace, watching
Christmas movies, going shopping for gifts for family and friends, attending Christmas parties, etc. Since
the holidays are considered to begin after Thanksgiving is over, people honestly start celebrating and
preparing for Christmas about a month before the actual holiday. There's a lot that goes on and it's really
fun!

One really common tradition that my family actually never participated in is believing in or writing letters
to Santa Claus. We grew up with the concept of who Santa was, but there was never a point where any of
my siblings or I stopped believing in him like most children because we always just thought of him as a
fictional person. This shockingly isn't because my parents were the villains in some bad Christmas
Hallmark film, they just didn't want it to be the main thing we focused on during the holidays because of
their Christian background. Although, we've always made handwritten Christmas lists to give to our other
family members, and then exchanged lists whenever we begin looking for gifts for one another.

Lily: Are there any traditions that are unique to your family? If so, what are they? Where do they
come from?
Sibley: There are a few traditions that I think are more unique to my family. One odd one is that we
typically cook and prepare a large breakfast on Christmas day instead of dinner, we prepare lunch and
dinner as well; they're just much smaller meals.
Some other casual traditions we have include driving around to go see all the different Christmas lights
people have put up, watching specific holiday movies, and baking homemade gingerbread. My sister and
I did ballet for a really long time too, so each year we go watch a local production of the Nutcracker put
on by the company we used to perform with. There are a lot of other ways we celebrate, but they're more
common Christmas traditions.

Lily: The holidays are commonly romanticized in every form of media. Do you think this influences
how we see, celebrate and what we expect from the holiday season? Why?/Why not?
Sibley: Yeah, I think the way the media most negatively influences how people see Christmas and what
they expect from the holiday here is through advertisements and product marketing.

It sounds cliche, but a lot of people can get really caught up in the gift giving aspect of the holiday and it
can make Christmas seem materialistic and shallow at times. Not to mention cause people unnecessary
stress or disappointment whenever they feel like they need to or have failed to live up to the expectation
they have of what the holiday needs to be like for themselves and their family. Overall, most companies
want to get as much of your money as possible during the holidays and it's just a distracting and harmful
thing to get too caught up in.

Sources:
https://guidebook.isango.com/traditional-celebrate-christmas-america/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Thanksgiving-Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy1tvor1mRw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1mhvegC6is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCVfZSDv8I4
https://www.livescience.com/32901-why-we-kiss-under-mistletoe.html

The interview section is thanks to my friend Sibley. This wouldn’t have been possible without them.