America is truly a melting pot, with a diverse range of ethnicities, religions and cultures represented in our population. This exciting blending of people and traditions forms a rich tapestry that includes unique holiday celebrations from around the world. Understanding the symbolism of these holidays can help you and your family to incorporate some new and meaningful holiday traditions into your home.

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Benefits of Meaningful Holiday Traditions

Perhaps, like many modern families, your family represents a joining of 2 or more diverse cultures and religions. Maybe you are interested in teaching your children about the values and traditions of cultures from around the world. Or, perhaps, you are simply interested in enriching your family's own holiday traditions by incorporating some new elements. This produces lasting memories that children can carry on into their adult years and pass along to their own children.

Meaningful Holiday Traditions

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it's easy to lose sight of the meaning of the holidays. Likewise, we might not take the time to become familiar with the holiday traditions that are celebrated in religions and cultures other than our own. We can teach our children what each holiday is about and why it is important to the culture of America. From there we can establish meaningful holiday traditions.

Christmas

Christmas is the most popular winter holiday celebrated in America. This is the time that Christians take to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. They will often decorate their homes or churches with nativity scenes.

Some of the traditions that can be incorporated include:

Celebrating Advent (a way to prepare for the celebration of Jesus' birth);

Attend a special Christmas morning or Christmas Eve church service;