Wanda’s Journal

Simple Living (Part 7)

At Christmastime, there are no decorated trees or blinking lights adorning Amish people’s homes. They do, however, make special cookies and candies as part of the holiday activity. Some Amish will string the Christmas cards they receive around a room in their home, or may set out some candles and greenery. On Christmas Eve, the school children put on a program for their friends and family at the schoolhouse, where they share poems, recitations, and songs. The scholars will often exchange gifts with others in their class. On Christmas morning, the Amish gather with their families for devotions, and then the children open their gifts. In the afternoon the Amish get together for a big family meal. If Christmas Day falls near the end of the week, some church districts will hold their services on Christmas morning instead of the usual Sunday service.

What kind of traditions do you celebrate around or on the Christmas holiday?

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47 Comments

  1. My family reads the Christmas story from the Bible, and attends our church’s Christmas Eve service. Then, we come home and get into our Christmas Pajamas. I put the baby in the Nativity set, then I sing “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night in German). My Pappy and I used to sing it every year, growing up. I carry on the tradition.

    1. We also each open one gift on Christmas Eve (usually a pair of Christmas themed PJ’s, or a Nightshirt). The rest, we save to open Christmas Morning. Christmas Day, we eat breakfast and open the rest of our gifts. If Christmas Day is on a Sunday, we get dressed and go to church. Then, come home and have a big Christmas dinner. We rotate between PA German food, this year we are having PA German food, and traditional Christmas food.

  2. I love Christmas traditions. They add to the specialness of the season. As the years have gone by, sadly, some of our family traditions have changed. But we have one that has stayed. My mom started it more than 30 years ago. She has a sheet that all the friends and family that spend the holiday with us sign. The children trace their hands and write their name and age. It’s so special to see who has spent the the holiday with us in years past, names of people no longer with us. And when I got married and then my brother got married, she gave us our own sheets so that we can continue the tradition.

  3. We put up decorations inside and outside for Christmas. Our grand children love the decorations. We open our presents on Christmas morning and have dinner with the family that day. The one decoration that is a tradition to set up is a Christmas Village. It’s takes up a huge table.

  4. Your journal entries are always a blessing. You books are one of my greatest pleasures. I always preorder! My best friend in Tennessee loves them also! Thank you so much. May God bless you and you family greatly.

  5. We begin Christmas morning with family breakfast and sharing things we are thankful for. This seems to set the tone for the special day. After the noon meal is prepared we deliver to go boxes for the homebound. We also have always shared the motto that no one should spend Christmas alone so for those that can and wish to come to our home they are more than welcome. In my view this embodies the true meaning of this special day.

  6. I go to my daughter and son in law’s house where we all open our gifts. I enjoy watching my granddaughter open her gifts! Then we enjoy our Christmas dinner together and often watch a movie together or just sit and talk. Spending the day together is the best gift of all!!

  7. My husband and I do not celebrate Christmas as most of the world does. We believe the tree has nothing to do with Christmas. Christmas is about Christ’s birthday. We do exchange cards with family and friends and string them from the drapes in our liviing room. We set up a manger scene. My husband made the stable/barn years ago. As the years have gone by we’ve added animals and the manger is empty until Christmas Eve.
    We do not spend money which we do not have for gifts. Our parents are all gone and we do not exchange gifts with either of our families as there are way too many. (13 brothers and sisters in mine and 6 in my husbands, 165 nieces, nephews, great and great greats.)
    We watch the Christmas Gaither videos the whole week of Christmas and read the Christmas story. On Christmas day we do have a big dinner.

  8. Our family always takes a ride and look at Christmas lights . Love spending time with family diring the holidays.

  9. Unfortunately, I’m Jewish and do not celebrate Christmas. But, if I did I would hang the cards around and open a gift on Christmas Eve!

  10. on Christmas eve out family come to my house, and we have a meal and gifts. as time as gone by all my kids are grown and have kids of their own, but Christmas eve is mama’s present.

  11. I ask our family which Christmas cookies they would like me to bake that year. We get together at our house for Christmas Eve, enjoy a simple fish dinner, and go to church service. On Christmas day, we go to our daughter’s house for a big ham dinner. Her in-laws join us.

  12. MMerry Christmas Wanda: I hope your Christmas is filled with
    hhappiness and joy and a cup of hot tea. God bless you.

  13. I have a huge stocking that we all fill with gifts big and small and the gifts in there are all from Santa. We put the person’s name that the gift belongs to on the outside of the gift. We draw names to see who the first person is to go up and draw a gift from the stocking. If the gift is theirs, they open it, if not they give it to the person whose name is on the gift. The person who just opened a gift goes up and draws a gift out of the stocking and gives it to the person whose name is on the gift. There is small gifts like a package of gum to gifts of larger amounts like a Bible that’s been engraved with their name on it. It is a lot of fun, and we have a lot of laughs too. Then we go onto open the gifts under the tree.

  14. Our tradition now with many family members gone is just to enjoy good food and good company together! It’s simple, but just what we need!

  15. Each year, we gather with our three sons, their wives, and our grandchildren the weekend before Christmas, and it’s a highlight we all cherish. We engage in entertaining games, share the heartwarming Christmas story, and enjoy delicious pizza delivered right to our door. The excitement builds as the children open their gifts—something they eagerly prepare for by drawing names at Thanksgiving. For the adults, the evening features a lively Chinese gift exchange, creating joyful memories that we all look forward to year after year!

  16. Hi Wanda – I love the simplistic ways of celebrating Christmas in the Amish community. I tried to make our Christmas celebration fun and magical when my boys were young. I had a Christmas countdown calendar that they enjoyed. Now that the boys are grown (ages 38 & 36), they are making their own traditions.

  17. I tape Christmas cards onto the door of our dining room. We don’t have much room for decorating, and we fear the cats would destroy a tree anyway. The cards add a festive look to the room.

  18. The Amish way of celebrating Christmas sounds wonderful. I think we/me get too concerned about having the house look perfect, the decorations looking perfect and picking out the perfect gifts for everyone we miss why we celebrate Christmas. My prayer is to keep Christ first and center in our home!

  19. When my mom was alive, we would get together on Christmas Eve. Any of the kids that was still in school would draw names and exchange gifts on Christmas Eve. The adults would bring a gift, and we would play a number game with the gifts. Always had Oyster Stew and Tuna Hotdish for the mail food for the meal.

  20. Our Christmas starts with morning service on Sunday, or midnight mass on Saturday night. After service we gather with our family prepare a meal and share it together then we gather together and share our gifts and just spend time with our loved ones.

  21. Our main tradition is gathering together with family to enjoy one another and to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!

    Thank you for using your incredible talent writing about the Amish. It’s so refreshing in the evil world we live in to be able to read something innocently pure and encouraging.

  22. My dad loves Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” so we always watch one of the film versions of the story. My favorite version is “Scrooge” with Albert Finney because it’s a musical!

  23. The Amish have a wonderful way of celebrating Christmas it sounds like, no commercialization. Many poorer people used to celebrate this way because they could not afford to “buy” Christmas. They made cookies and candies and let Jesus be the focus of Christmas. After all He is the Reason For the Season.

  24. Now that our sons are grown with families, we have a Christmas Eve lunch with all of them and exchange gifts. In the evening we go to Christmas Eve service.

  25. My holiday traditions are rooted in my southern background. From the food ( homemade Mac & cheese, potatoes salad, collard greens, candid yams, and turkey. Desserts are red velvet cake,sour cream pound cake with glaze, apple pie, and sweet potato pie). I start cooking days ahead. I come from a big family- I am the youngest of 14- so I haven’t figured out how to cook smaller. I try to invite anyone without extended family to my table. I have continued these traditions after my mother’s passing 10 years ago.

  26. I have had the privilege of enjoying some of those delicious treats the Amish make. I live in Maine and we have a small Amish community near me. They are the sweetest. I always love talking with them and learning more of their traditions.
    One of my favorite traditions are to open a present with my daughter Christmas Eve. She knows it’s going to be pajamas but she doesn’t know what they look like and for the past few years I have gotten matching PJs with her. We gather with my husbands parents and have dinner and a movie and open our pjs.

    Jo

  27. Christmas was my moms favorite holiday🌲 We used to have a day, just baking cookies. I still try to take a day and bake some of the favorites. Some other traditions my husband and I do are: sending Christmas cards, getting together with family on Christmas day for a ham dinner, after opening presents and driving around looking at alk of the beautiful Christmas lights.
    Merry Christmas to all and many blessings fur the New Year.

  28. Christmas is my favorite holiday because of the traditions, family, food, and of course celebrating the birth of our Lord. Every Christmas my children and I get together with my sister one weekend and bake cookies. We always go to our church’s Christmas Eve service. After our children open one present and we read the Christmas Story. So many memories over the years I’ll keep in my heart forever.

  29. We always go and look at all the Beautiful lights and decorations please have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

  30. I make a special meal on Christmas Day for my children and grandchildren.We will play games and snack on cookies and candies.It is a very special day to be with all of my loved ones and remember the three family members who passed away this year.

  31. One of our favorite Christmas traditions is going to our local tree farm to enjoy the smell of fresh pine, the beautiful trees & watching other families enjoying themselves. We call it our annual “Candy Cane Hike” because the walking path is lined with giant candy canes. They own acres of trees so it’s quite a hike! There’s a Santa hayride with music & a sing-along, a cozy firepit to sit by while sipping hot cocoa & enjoying their fresh hot cider donuts. Although we have an artificial tree, it’s a great place to enjoy some good old fashioned family fun, & we always leave with a fresh decorated wreath for our front door. They even have a winery with free tastings & we leave with gifts for friends & family. Always puts us in the Christmas spirit!

  32. We put up the annual Christmas tree & decorations inside & out. The past 15 yrs the decor has remained about the same, very little change! We moved in with my mom 15 yrs ago to care for her with Parkinson’s. 13 yrs ago she passed right before Christmas. Very heartbreaking but rejoicing that she’s with Jesus. But God gave us a grandson a year later which helped ease the sadness. Since my husband is a pastor our season has a lot of extras at church with music, caroling, meals & church decor. Our handicapped daughter who is in private Care comes to visit for a couple hours a week prior to Christmas so that’s always a special day. Then on Christmas Day or a day later (for this year), we’ll gather with our son & family for breakfast and to open gifts. We always open “the first gift of Chistmas” which is the baby in the manger and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus with a candle in a brownie!!! We started this tradition 22 yrs ago when our granddaughter was a baby. Always so memorable! The grandchildren, now getting older, I think feel like it’s childish, but I tell them to humor me!!! One day when they have children it will be a treasured memory! Merry Christmas!!!

  33. Hello, I love Christmas time when I was younger with the real tree and the silver streamers we used to put on with the stinged popcorn and real cranberries. But , now as an adult I still love Christmas, but don’t decorate as much. I love the simple things and slower life alot better. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

  34. We get together with family. That has changed over the years as our family grows and schedules change. Our new tradition is Christmas brunch. In our house we only put up a small homemade manager with lights.

  35. I eat White Christmas pie and celebrate with sacred Christmas music, books, and the Bible. I enjoy favorite Christmas decorations.

  36. I think God wishes us to have more of the simpler life than all of the hustle and bustle of the world. Blessings to all this Christmas season.

  37. What a lovely idea about the cookies! We aren’t swedish, but we make swedish pancakes for all of our family and friends to have on Christmas morning. They are more like crepes, light and soft. The tradition started with my husbands family and we carried it over to ours. Merry Christmas!

  38. We usually go to my sister’s on Christmas Eve and spend time with my family and then on Christmas day we go to my husband’s aunts and spend the morning day afternoon. My kids are an 18 yr daughter and 15 yr special needs who is in a home 24 hrs. so we see him after and take him gifts from everyone and spend quality time. This year especially week of Thanksgiving was such a crazy week and sad. We lost our beloved dog on the 23, then the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we lost our grandpa, and then on Thanksgiving my husband started getting sick and was admitted Saturday with pneumonia, sepsis, and his diabetes off the charts. Buthe is out and We are back home. Just pray he sticks with his medicine and will listen to the dr.

  39. The whole family gathers together at my parent’s house on Christmas Eve and we have a grab bag gift exchange for the adults and presents for the children. Lots of food and deserts and making special memories of the Christmas Season.

  40. We do a get together Christmas Eve, we typically have a steak dinner and my grandkids open their gifts from us. We do it small now that our children are grown