A big bowl of clam chowder. Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. Piling into the family van and going on a trip.
These are just some of the holiday traditions observed by students at Lipscomb University.
“We would go on a family trip in place of getting a bunch of gifts,” says Eric Dickerson, a junior law, justice and society major from Huntsville, Ala.
“When we put up all the Christmas decorations my family always watches A Charlie Brown Christmas,” says Juleen Stinson, a junior human resources major from Findlay, Ohio.
Ah, but then there’s the soup. Or the clam chowder, rather, for Sarah Bailey, a junior marketing major from Philadelphia, Penn.
“We all get together on Christmas Eve and eat clam chowder,” Bailey said.
Some families, like junior nursing major from Cincinnati, Ohio Leanne Wright, simply enjoy going together to get the “perfect” tree.
“We get a real tree, and then have Christmas Day at our house,” Wright said.
AnnChristine Johnson, a junior psychology major from Nashville, also enjoys the tree selecting with her family.
“We always pick out our tree and decorate it together,” Johnson said. “We always set up a mini-manger scene too.”
Emily Nowers can’t think of Christmas without visions of a banjo playing in her head.
No it’s not “Deliverance.” It’s the holiday spirit and a family tradition.
“My family gathers around in my grandparents’ living room, and my uncles start playing their guitar and banjo,” said Nowers, a junior elementary education major from Nashville.
“We all start singing along to Christmas carols, but we also sing some Johnny Cash songs and other favorites. It is a lot of fun.”
It’s the tale of the jolly elf rather than songs by the Man in Black that stir the celebration for Alex Casey, a sophomore engineering major from Chattanooga.
“Every Christmas, my family goes to my grandma’s, and she reads us The Night before Christmas,” Casey said. “Then when she is reading the story to us, ‘Santa’ always comes and looks through the window. It used to terrify me.”
Jadrienne Myhre and her family have attended the living history Christmas Ball in Columbia, Tenn., together for the past three years.
Every Christmas season, this festive event takes celebrants back to an era of Southern belles and chivalry.
“Every year as it comes closer everyone gets excited about it,” said Charlotte Myhre, 13. “I especially like to wear all the dresses and dance the dances.”
The ball is family friendly, and attendees dress in clothing appropriate to the Civil War era, participate in period style dances.
Though the tradition of celebrating Christmas is hun , a holiday loved by so many around the world, is also one that each family celebrates differently.
Co-authors Megan Maxwell, Jadrienne Myhre.