Christmas is so special and wonderful that I hate to clog up my December with anything that isn’t “Christmas-y.” But taking a whole month’s vacation from schooling doesn’t seem very responsible. So every year I find a way to incorporate a new kind of Christmas unit into our December studies.
One year we learned all about Tchaikovsky and ballet while reading and watching every version of The Nutcracker we could get our hands on. One year we focused on all of the various symbols of Christmas and what they stand for, finding scriptures and songs to go with each one. Another year we learned the stories behind all of our beloved Christmas carols. One of my favorite Decembers was the year we traveled the world.
Traveling the world at Christmas isn’t as daunting as it sounds. You don’t even have to leave home! The Internet and your public library are chock full of information on beliefs and traditions of various nations. There are many sweet storybooks that can take you to Christmas in other places. And you don’t have to go far to find coloring books with wonderful illustrations.
If you’ll look into the community events in your area, you’re bound to find Christmas happenings with International flair. There are often large ethnic groups that host their own festivities, inviting the public. We attended a Christmas lighting ceremony in a Bavarian village tucked in the mountains of Washington. The local Scandinavian community held a Christmas event with music, crafts, food and a bazaar. One of the area’s Children’s Museums highlighted a different nation’s winter celebration each week from mid-November through January. Between neighbors, friends and ward members, you will also surely find someone who has lived in another country and can tell you all about Christmas there. After I had told a Norwegian friend of my December intentions, she invited us over for an afternoon of Christmas in Norway that was enchanting.
One of the most interesting parts of our unit was the food. The day after Thanksgiving I went to an imports store and bought all sorts of goodies from around the world. There were Christmas specialties (and sales!) but also the everyday kind of food from other cultures as well. I made sure to have Swiss and Belgian chocolate, Turkish delight, Moroccan couscous, French pastries, English marmalade and more. One of the days we had a full-blown English tea party (with herbal tea, of course) complete with scones and Christmas Crackers. Each night we’d eat the foods I’d bought or learned to prepare from the various nations. This was a great way to involve Dad! He got into it so much that at that Bavarian village he went all out and bought sausages and kraut and desserts! (If you knew my husband, you’d know what a big deal that was!)
I also tried to have an ornament representing each of the various nations and Christmas traditions that we learned about. As we finished learning about a particular culture we’d hang the ornament on the tree. Some of these I bought at the imports store. Some of them we made. But even today it’s a fond reminder of the things we learned that December.
You can’t have Christmas without music, and it was festive and fun to listen to the songs of Christmas from around the world. From the popular “Feliz Navidad” to the stirring melodies of the carols of the Celts, we broadened our horizons and tastes. And in the spirit of foreign language we learned to say “Merry Christmas” – or whatever each nation’s traditional Christmas greeting – in the various native tongues.
What I treasure most about the Christmas we traveled the world is the sweet spirit that accompanies knowing that so much of the world believes in Christ. Learning about the ways they revere Him and seeing the special symbolism in the celebrations of other cultures made me feel closer to my Savior, and to all of my brothers and sisters throughout the world.
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