From a pandemic that suddenly gripped the world with its fear and made people completely change their lifestyles, to forest fires and protests against the injustice that affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. A number of significant events took place this year that negatively affected a wide majority of people. It’s safe to say that this has been a tough year. And as we head towards the end of the year, this Christmas holiday season may matter more than ever.
Let's have a look at a few reasons why Christmas holiday traditions might be more important than you think this year.
Traditions have a strong place in our heart.
The decorated streets, the cheer in the air, special meals with the family, lighting trees and candles, shopping for gifts and meaningful time for us to pause and reflect on ourselves. In our otherwise busy lives, they are a means for us to put everything aside for once a year and spend time with our loved ones doing things we love.
Christmas helps us nurture our bonds with our loved ones
These holiday traditions such as Christmas have more meaning and value to them other than just exchanging gifts. These ritualistic behaviours help nurture us and reinvigorate our bonds with family and friends. Rounding up everyone to do their parts decorating and cooking around the house, Special meals with the family, having all your cousins around, arranging popcorns and movie nights, giving each other presents, spending time with your elders, etc. Children also get more time to know their larger part of the family. Traditions are a wonderful way to anchor family members to one another.
Traditions make us closer to our culture
Other than that traditions make us closer to our culture and add more meaning to our lives. Being isolated from culture is a dilemma we often find ourselves in. But with Christmas, even for a short time, we get back to our roots and learn to take joy in our traditions.
The Christmas holidays can help us manage stress
All of these blessings of Christmas can be especially helpful this year. People have undergone a lot of stress due to different events that have happened and some have lost their loved ones too. Some have dealt with extended separation too because of the quarantine restrictions due to which they were unable to travel between countries.
The Takeaway
With living in quarantine and away from each other for quite some time, Christmas now brings another chance for everyone to meet up and strengthen their bonds. We can look forward to Christmas to finally have relief and use this time to take off the stress that has been following us for a better part of this year. If there happens to be another lockdown by the time Christmas arrives on our doorstep, we can use that time to our advantage by enjoying our times with our families at our homes and making the best out of the festivities and holiday traditions Christmas presents us with.