Christmas Day in the United States

While studying abroad in spain, my host mam loly told me christmas day is important in her culture, but not celebrated the same way as in the us. She said her family gets together on december 20 fourth, la noce buena, the good night, and has a church service, sometimes followed by a gift exchange. This was a revelation to me, that an entire culture could avoid the pressure placed on a day typically about consumption and re focus it on slowing down. Instead of spiralling into credit car debt and frantically rushing around to pick up last minute gifts, they simply enjoy the time they have with each other. Of course, that's not to say the