Americans across the United States take their Christmas decorations down from the attic and out of their closets just in time to celebrate the holiday throughout the month of December.

What many U.S. citizens do not know is that common customs that are practiced every year came from countries and cultures from around the world.

The first recorded celebration of the Christmas holiday took place in Rome on Dec. 25 of 336 A.D. to observe a religious time.

The first festivities included feasts amongst families, exchanging small gifts such as wax tapered candles, also known as cerei, and gambling.

Since then, the way families and individuals have celebrated Christmas has evolved into many branches of possibilities to celebrate the winter holiday religiously and secularly.

The United States is now a melting pot of many traditions that have derived from countries around the world, but most customs that are now found in America have travelled from Europe.

While the flames of various practices that originated in Ancient Greece and Rome have died out, few are still burning, such as the custom of kissing when a couple meets under the mistletoe.

In Greece, the tradition started because of the plant’s association with fertility. While in Rome, the plant represented peace due to the known custom of fighting enemies reconciling underneath a branch.

While many ancient Christmastime rituals are still being practiced, the majority of traditions that are celebrated annually in present-time originated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, mostly taking place in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

One of the most famous Christmas decorations is the Christmas tree.

While some families may choose to place a real evergreen in their living room, many households opt for plastic trees that can be found in various different shades, flocked with look alike snow or pre-strung with Christmas lights.

Although the first known Christmas trees were in the homes of Germans in the sixteenth century, trees were first introduced to the Americas in the nineteenth century, according to Goethe Institut.

Melted wax, or pins, hooked and held candles onto the early versions of Christmas trees which also started in Germany modernly known as Christmas lights. The decoration has since evolved into small multicolored light bulbs that are less likely to cause a fire.

Along with Christmas trees, the practice of making candy-decorated gingerbread houses every year originated in Germany in the sixteenth century but travelled to the U.S. in the nineteenth century, where both children and adults coat the small house in sweets of their choice.

Along with these many popular traditions, the artist that first created the Santa Claus that is often pictured around Christmas now was born in Lindau, Germany.

The cartoonist, Thomas Nast, moved to New York in 1846 where he found his obsession with drawing.

Nast later specialized in political drawings where his work was published in magazines during the American Civil War to advertise for the Union.

The first drawing of a modern Claus was published in Harper’s Weekly Magazine in 1863.

While Germany was a major contributor to the traditions that are now commonly found in December annually in the United States, the UK also played a big part in shaping an American Christmas. 

In the mid-1800s, a British sweet maker named Tom Smith started selling what he called “Bangs of Expectation” that were inspired by french bon bons.

Originally only paper concealed the small sweet and firecracker that burst when the paper was pulled apart, Christmas “crackers” have improved into cardboard tubes wrapped in colorful paper and tied at each end to resemble a sweet.

When the two ends are pulled simultaneously, the broken cracker reveals an assortment of small objects, such as a paper hat, joke, sweets or toys. 

Christmas crackers travelled from the UK along with Christmas stockings or socks. 

Hanging stockings began in present-day Turkey in approximately 330 A.D. when a Greek Bishop by the name of Saint Nicholas travelled to homes of poor families to bless them by filling their stockings with coins or food. 

Although the practice did not originate in the UK, British Pilgrims carried the traditions with them to the Americas. 

The United States has gained a multitude of new traditions throughout its time as a country and will continue to accept new Christmas traditions every year.