In most English speaking countries Christmas is one of the most important holidays. There are many old traditions associated with Christmas, most notably attending mass to celebrate the birth of Christ. Another tradition that many know about is decorating a Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus will down the chimney and leave gifts for the good girls and boys. Throughout the years, families and groups of friends have made their own traditions. Here are five interesting Christmas customs you may not know about:

Christmas Cards/Letters

A typical Christmas card.

The holidays are a time of year when friends and family members who haven’t been able to keep in close touch try to update each other about their lives. Many people will take a family photo and have cards made with that photo along with a simple “Merry Christmas” message. In the last decade some families have started sending out a letter along with the photo to tell their friends and other family members about their life in the past year. My home is always decorated with these picture cards for the first two months of the year.

Secret Santa

What did your secret Santa bring??

It is common for companies to have an office party in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Before the party, all the names of the people attending are placed into a bag. Then everyone takes a name. The name you get is the person you have to buy a gift for. But you can’t tell the person whose name you got and that’s why it’s a secret. You won’t know who is buying you a gift until the Christmas party when they give the gift to you. Some families also do this as a way of saving money. Instead of buying a gift for all their family members, they only buy a gift for one.

White Elephant

This is a game that makes exchanging gifts fun. Everyone who is attending the Christmas party must bring a gift. The gift should be suitable for anyone. All the gifts are placed together under the tree. Everyone takes a number to see who goes first, second, third, etc. Whoever is number one will choose any gift and open it. The second person can either steal the first gift open or open a new gift. If they steal the gift, the person who lost the gift can also steal a gift or open a new one. Then the game continues like this until all the gifts have been opened. There are some rules to follow but this is the basic way to play. It makes the party very exciting because there are always those few gifts that everyone wants so they are stolen many times.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Ugly Christmas sweaters.

This is a funny, modern Christmas custom that is becoming more and more popular. It’s not uncommon at Christmas gatherings for older family members to wear what some might call an ugly Christmas sweater. Someone got the idea to make a joke of this and have a party where everyone wears such a sweater. Some people find them in their grandma’s closet, some find them in thrift stores, and others buy them online. In many parties the guests will vote for who has the best (ugliest) sweater. There might be a prize for the winner, such as a bottle of wine.

Santa Con

Santa Claus is coming to… Beijing?

You may have heard of Santa Claus coming down the chimney to deliver presents, but how about 100 of them parading through your city? This happens in hundreds of cities around the world at the annual Santa Con (short for Santa Conference). It started in San Fransisco in 1994 as a joke and has spread to almost 50 countries. These days you can find Santa in Boston, Berlin, and even Beijing. In most places it’s basically a big pub crawl. This has given it a bad reputation in some cities such as New York, where problems range from public drunkenness to fights.

We love hearing from our readers, so feel free to answer these questions in the comments section below:

Is Christmas celebrated in your country?

What do people usually do around the holiday?

Are there any interesting Christmas customs?