Growing up in the southern US, we never had snow for Christmas. We almost never had snow. That didn’t bother me. Even then—I hated cold. I suppose my hatred of snow and cold was partly because our family was too poor to afford warm clothes.

One thing that bothered me from a young age was Christmas cards. They portrayed wintery, snowy scenes that made it appear that it wasn’t Christmas without snow. I would wonder, “Where are the Christmas cards for people like us? Doesn’t anyone realize how beautiful our landscape is at Christmas and all during the year? What about the folks who live further south and have never seen snow? Where are the Christmas cards for them?”

Other things that bothered me even before I became a Christian were Santa and gifts. I grew up amid folks who could not afford to give gifts at Christmas, and children who never got anything from Santa. Did it make them feel worthless? That bothered me a lot. It still does. I knew families who considered one bag of sugar, or one sweet potato, or one handful of laundry soap priceless Christmas gifts.

Every family has its own Christmas traditions. One of ours was a tangerine in the bottom of a stocking with a few pieces of chocolate on top. I traded my tangerine to my clueless younger siblings for chocolate. Or, perhaps—being the oldest—I bullied them. Thankfully, I don’t remember—but I do know that I never ate the tangerine.

We had a tradition of going out into our pasture and finding and cutting down a pine tree and decorating the house on December, 20, my birthday. And because my parents were atheists, “Santa” was big at our house. When I started school at age 5 and the other children were singing “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” and “Away in a Manger”—I was perplexed by the words. I didn’t understand. God was not allowed to exist at our house, and “Jesus” was a swear word that we children were not allowed to use.

When my son Luke was a child, I started our own tradition. We never opened Christmas gifts until after I read Luke, Chapter 2, verses 1-20. We kept that tradition up until he left home to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps.

We have a friend in Finland. She writes to us every Christmas with lovely tales about “Father Christmas” and Finnish food and traditions. She is passing those customs down to her grandchildren. And, yes, they involve snow. Lots of snow.

All around the globe, folks will be celebrating their own special Christmas customs and traditions in their own climates. But no matter the place around the globe, the distance from the equator, or the weather—one thing is the same everywhere. Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, unto Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

And that—in any spot on the globe—wrapped in any local traditions and customs—is Christmas. With or without snow.

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