In each part of the world people are celebrating Christmas in a different way. Every country has it’s own customs related with this holiday and even unique names for Santa. The food preparation are different in Poland and in France, the Christmas decoration looks different in Germany and in the USA. Also gift ideas and ways of giving them may vary depends on country (for example the Scottish Christmas gifts aren’t the same as Australian one). And giving the present that isn’t popular in your culture may be a fantastic idea – gifting is all about imagination and for event like Christmas it’s worth to buy people things they would never buy themselves.
In the USA where Christmas is not quite religious holiday gifts are even the most important part but gift ideas aren’t so unique. It was popular to deposit presents in stockings which are hanging over the chimney (in Sweden for example they are hanging on the Christmas tree). Many years ago stockings were full of sweets, like glace lollipops, and hand-made sweaters. Nowadays stockings are only a reminiscence of old tradition and under the Christmas tree you will find an expensive TV and video camera. In France there is still a custom of giving small presents hidden in shoes: small toys, nuts, sweets (the Christmas tree isn’t so popular in France). Children believes that they are placed there by Pere Noel. As for the Scottish gifts they are the most uniqueness of all. The people of Scotland don’t have so many customes related with Christmas holiday but because of their rich culture their gifts might be a good example and gift idea for every nation. Gifts from Scotland are usually: Celtic design jewelery, kilts (mini kilt for her and traditional one for him; they are even giving kilts to their children as a part of their tradition and this kind of Scottish gift would be a nice surprise for a teenage boy), original scotch whiskey. And only in Scotland there is a custom that the presents are opened very carefully to make sure that the wrapping paper can be used once again.
So good luck with your gift ideas this and every next Christmas. Be creative and have fun.

Christmas shopping online is not for you? If you are one of those that share this thought, you probably like to enjoy the atmosphere of physical shopping. Doing your Christmas shopping online despite all its convenience, lack the festive mood. The convenience of online shopping has reduced the shopping experience to a browse and click mode, no mood and very little atmosphere.

Therefore, you might think that despite the staggering numbers that shows how many people are actually doing their Christmas shopping online, they are just a minority out of the entire Christmas shopping population. Well, while I do not have the statistics to back this up –this thinking is likely to be true

To ascertain the fact that the Christmas shopping online folks are really a sub-set of the Christmas shopping crowd, just visit Marcy’s, Barnes and Noble or one of the large departmental stores during the pre-Christmas period, and the crowd you see would highlight the fact that a very large proportion of shoppers are still doing their shopping offline.

Moreover, this crowd gives rise to the Christmassy feelings. Never mind that you have to wait an hour to find a parking lot or half an hour to pay for your purchases, this feeling enhanced by the jingles that flood the stores is something that doing your Christmas shopping online would never be able to offer.

Having said so much about the value of shopping physically, are there any merits to doing your Christmas shopping online? Yes, from my own experience there are at least two major contributions that doing your Christmas shopping online can provide.

First, Christmas shopping online eliminates the hassle of browsing and deciding at absolutely ground zero on the spot. Imagine you are doing shopping with only a vague idea of what to buy for whom and your only reference is some scribbling on a post-it note.

Enter online Christmas shopping, and you are able to browse online and zero in on the category of items that you would like to get for your love ones. One of the biggest value of Internet is it allows you to conduct your research and craft a comprehensive list of items that you would like to get for your love ones. So that, when you are doing it physically, all you have to do is to choose from the different brands and decide on the ones that have the best value. Thus, saving time and allowing you to buy for more people in lesser trips.

The other contribution of online Christmas shopping is that it is able to take care of your ‘bulk purchases’. What I mean is during this festive season of giving and sharing, there would be lots of gifts exchange, and gifts giving to acquaintances.

So, for this group of people, you would probably be getting something that is nice but would not invest too much thought into it, and then you would buy plenty of it to last through the season. Doing your Christmas shopping for these folks online frees out more time for you to choose something special for your love ones. It also takes care of the inconvenience of bringing a lot of stuff home (online shopping would have the purchase deliver right to your door steps).

There you have it! Online Christmas shopping allows you to do a thorough research on the gifts to get for your love ones and it also gives you more time in physically shopping for those gifts by allowing you to buy the generic stuff online. So, using technology allows you to enjoy the magic feeling of shopping under the thick Christmas atmosphere provides by shopping malls with lesser things on your mind to worry about.

If you ask people what their favorite holiday many will exclaim, Christmas! When asked why, some will mention Santa Claus and getting gifts, but most will list things like festive parties, Christmas carols, and twinkling light displays as reasons for their love of the holiday.

The pleasant memories invoked by annual activities like these help to form cherished Christmas traditions that get passed down through families for generations. This is certainly true for my family and at the first hints of autumn we start to feel excitement for the coming holiday season! Here are five holiday traditions you and your family can use to begin creating Christmas memories.

Christmas Movies

My family’s Christmas traditions begin on Thanksgiving Day by watching the 1947 black & white version of Miracle on 34th Street. Over the years, we have collected more than 30 Christmas themed DVDs and videos. So, it has become an anticipated tradition for us to gather together to sip hot cocoa and eat Christmas cookies while we watch one of those movies every night throughout the month of December.

Holiday Baking

At our house everyone looks forward to the first week of Christmas vacation, when we go into baking mode and spend 3-4 days baking our favorite Christmas cookies! Everyone gets together at someones house and each person bakes their favorite holiday treats. During this time we take time to remember Christmas past.

When we are all done we divide up the goodies and take them home to enjoy or hand out as gifts.

Christmas Trees

This Christmas tradition can be a point of contention as there are many strong and varied opinions on this topic.

Many families put up their Christmas tree the weekend before Thanksgiving or earlier while a few will wait until Christmas Eve. Some choose the one-time purchase, pine needle-free convenience of a life-like artificial tree, but for others only a fragrant, fresh-cut live tree will do.

But, whether you choose a real tree or not; choose a theme that the family will have fun with for years.

Christmas Stockings

Another cherished tradition is the hanging of stockings on Christmas Eve for Santa to fill with goodies!

Christmas stockings come in many sizes and styles, from sophisticated store-bought ones to homemade hand-crafted ones. The type of stockings you choose to hang may vary from year to year or you may choose to use the same stockings every Christmas.

But whatever you decide to do be sure to have lots of fun things and tasty treats to fill them.

Santa Letters

At Christmas time it is traditional for children to write letters to Santa Claus telling him how good they’ve been all year and requesting specific toys from him as a reward for their good behavior.

A new twist on this old tradition is to have Santa write letters to the kids. It’s an excellent way to encourage youngsters to continue good behavior and to keep the mystique of Santa alive.

If you don’t feel that you can write a letter from Santa to your kids go to LettersFromSanta