Angelika Christmas is just around the corner, and it's time for my Christmas newsletter. This time, I've gathered a few American Christmas traditions. Despite the diverse mix of people, a high percentage of the American population celebrates Christmas. However, many celebrate it in different ways, and the originally religious aspect of the festival is not always the main focus. Some customs may seem familiar to you, as the European immigrants of the 19th and 20th centuries brought their traditions to the New World, blending Scandinavian, English, Dutch, Italian, Polish, and German customs.

Angelika The tradition of decorating a fir tree and setting it up in the home, originally from Germany, is also widespread in the USA. However, the Christmas tree is set up much earlier here: many people buy their tree on the weekend after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November); they then immediately decorate it with Christmas ornaments and string lights, and leave it up and standing until after Christmas. I don't know anyone who has real candles on their tree. The branches of the trees available for purchase here are also much denser so that the cables of the electric string lights are not as noticeable.

"Markets and streets stand deserted, every house quietly illuminated. Pondering, I walk through the alleys, everything looks so festive." Eichendorff would also have his quiet joy in the Christmas decorations in the USA. The houses and apartments not only receive a Christmas touch inside, but many homeowners do not miss the opportunity to wrap their houses in strings of lights or transform their front yards into a Christmas paradise. Especially in the suburbs, there are unofficial competitions to see who can decorate their house the most beautifully or display the most strings of lights. In our neighborhood, Noe Valley, on 21st Street between Church and Sanchez Street, homeowners Tom and Jerry transform their house into a Christmas paradise for children (and adults) every year. A toy train circles around, and under an approximately 8-meter-high fir tree, which is decorated with huge ornaments, there are also huge wrapped gifts and various stuffed animals. To bring the house into the Christmas state, the owners rent a construction crane every year.