Christmas Traditions: Rituals Can Be Simple and Small

Yahoo! News asked writers from the Yahoo! Contributor Network to share their personal holiday tales and traditions. Below is a story from a contributor.

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Christmas traditions growing up were quiet and small. My mother was an atheist and my father an agnostic so the religious side of Christmas was never in the forefront of the holiday season. It was lights and other decorations that made Christmas the exciting holiday.

The usual Christmas tree, holiday dinner with gifts on Christmas morning was the extent of our holiday tradition. When I married and had children it was a wonderful thing for my family during the holidays, since we were able to build traditions from the ground up.

The first Christmas celebration was small for my husband, newborn daughter and myself. With both hubby and I in college we did not have money for lots of gifts and a big turkey dinner so it was round steak, potatoes, green beans and a two-foot tree.

As the years passed and we added a son to the family mix the traditions became more concrete. The trip to the Christmas tree farm and hand cutting our own tree, the week before Christmas is now our traditional light-viewing week. We travel to all the free lighting sites around the city of Portland. Peacock Lane, Birdsdale Road, the town of Roy (just outside the city), along the streets of Portland we have found many free lighting shows to view. A wagon ride is traditional on the 23rd of December, through Peacock Lane, the cost varies however, the horse and wagon ride remain the same. Thrilling and a heart warming experience.

Our family has grown now with grand children to share these traditions with. The front yard filled with lights and Christmas decorations, a tree with a color theme each year, turkey dinner and, a week filled with visits to the local lighting sites of old.

We have added the tradition of the Oregon Zoo lights, The Grotto, and this year our new addition will be the Christmas Train, added throughout the years to make the Christmas holidays more enjoyable for all.

Of course the year's pass and each of our grown children have begun to add their own family traditions but, they never cease to include grandmother and grandfather into the mix of these new additions. Making our family Christmas traditions an every changing and growing experience for children and adults of all ages.

Each year Christmas is the one holiday that I truly find myself looking forward to with the excitement and thrill of being a child myself once again. Merry Christmas to all and I hope and pray that each holiday in the years to come find all of you, my readers, growing, loving, sharing and creating their own family traditions no matter how simple, large, or small that they are.