How important is the Christmas ritual for family life?
R.H.: Compared with other family rituals we looked into, Christmas is one of the few festivals involving the extended family such as grandparents and brothers or sisters of the parents. Children say the two most important days are birthdays and Christmas. For their part, adults consider Christmas as very much a family occasion. Bringing the family together is important to them. Material things are only of secondary importance, they said. One woman we interviewed put it like this: Christmas is a chance to look at how things are within the family. It could be that family members have died or are absent because they want to stay away, or maybe there are new members, such as young children and new partners.
