The holidays in my family are very diverse . Our custom is to celebrate Christmas every year as a religious observance , complete with Advent wreathes and Midnight Mass . Most of my in-laws observe Christmas purely as a secular holiday, with the focus on exchanging gifts, stockings, a Christmas tree , and other traditional customs. There is a lot of listening to Christmas music—my favorites are the carols sung by Nat King Cole —and sometimes even some eggnog . My nieces and nephews enjoy the day the most, especially when they get to open the gifts under the tree from Santa Claus .
One of my brother-in-laws is Jewish, and so he celebrates Hanukkah , the festival of lights , when he lights a candle each of the eight nights on the menorah . My niece gets a small gift each night of Hanukkah and of course spins the dreidel . With both celebrations in the same family, we sometimes call it Chrismukkah .
But the holidays are no longer just Christmas and Hanukkah in the United States. More recently, there are some people who celebrate a new holiday, Kwanzaa . This is a mostlyAfrican- American event, with parades and other parties to highlight African-Americanheritage . Started here in Los Angeles, this celebration runs for 1 week after Christmas, and is a mostly secular celebration.
Whatever tradition you celebrate, December is always a festive time of year.