It’s the traditions that make the Christmas season so special.

Every year, family and friends gather to celebrate the holidays in their own way, whether at work, home or a family member’s home.

Catherine Glover, executive director of the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce, said there is a whole list of traditions her family observes every year.

“Our Christmas is filled with family. We start celebrating a few days early when my Aunt and Uncle arrive from Asheville. We go out to dinner, ride around and see lights, and get in the spirit,” Glover wrote.

The Morgan-Glover family spends Christmas Eve at Smallwood because of the longtime tradition of luminaries in the neighborhood, she said.

“I remember as a child helping my parents with the luminaries. My son helps now,” Glover wrote.

The family always has a Christmas breakfast and dinner together, as well, she said.

“We always have a traditional Thanksgiving meal, so Christmas we sometimes mix it up. This year we are having ribs that we bought from Acre Station,” Glover shared. “One of the highlights and something we have been doing for years is having a family oyster roast for all of our family that lives here and away. It is a chance for all of us to catch up.”

Sarah Hodges Stalls, media coordinator at S.W. Snowden Elementary School, shared a decades-long tradition from her family — simple, yet special.

“Since I can remember, my dad’s family has all gathered together on Christmas Eve,” she recalled. “This has probably gone around for 45-50 years now.”

Last year, however, was Stalls’ first Christmas with new husband Bobby, so the traditional gathering at the Bear Grass home moved to their home in Farm Life.

“Once we shut that house down, my husband and I brought the tradition with us,” Stalls said. “It’s just really cool how it all worked out.”

On the menu is a large pot of vegetable soup, cheese biscuits, sausage on the grill, and topping it off is a big chocolate pie.

Stalls said even the dinner is simple, so that stress is kept to a minimum and everyone can enjoy one another’s company.

It is also a good way to show the children in the family what is truly important about the Christmas season, she added.

For Lou Stout, director of workforce initiatives at Beaufort County Community College, the holidays bring memories of her father to mind, especially after he passed away last year.

“Daddy worked with a man named Ralph Wallace. Mr. Ralph passed away many years ago, but every Christmas Eve, for as long as I can remember, we would go visit his wife, Ms. Mary Wood. No gifts, just spending time with her and her family, reminiscing of years gone by,” Stout recalled.

In the same spirit — “Daddy being Daddy,” as Stout calls it — he saw a lady at Walmart who was buying gifts to distribute to another family in need. She did this every year, and Stout’s father would donate money to the cause every year after the meeting at Walmart.

“Last year, Mama kept Daddy’s tradition going. A few weeks ago, through tears, Mama would tell me that while she was doing okay financially, she would not have the extra to keep Daddy’s tradition going. She would also tell all of us not to worry with Christmas presents; she had all she needed with her children,” Stout wrote. “A few days went by and I called ‘the lady’ and made our family’s annual contribution to help the family she had picked this year.”

“We, us kids, never knew that — only Mama, and she never told us — until he was gone,” Stout wrote of her father’s tradition. “I guess the tradition that has meant the most is something that we did not learn about until Daddy was gone.”

These traditions are what Christmas is all about — the true spirit of the holiday.