The holiday season is approaching which in the U.S., that means shopping, get-togethers, food and celebrations. All countries have a special way to celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving, some celebrate one or the other or completely different holidays altogether.

French teacher Sarah Tissot lived in Switzerland before coming to the U.S.

“We do not have Thanksgiving since it doesn’t exist in Europe, but we have all the usual Christian holidays, so we celebrate Christmas,” Tissot said.

Christmas in Switzerland is called Noël and it is very similar to Christmas in America.

“We would get together on La Veille de Noël (Christmas Eve) with our family and have a nice, festive meal. Before or after dinner the children stand by the Christmas tree to sing songs or tell a Christmas poem they learned, usually in school, to the rest of the family,” Tissot said.

Later in the evening, people usually attend Midnight Mass.

“After Mass, they serve a traditional Vin Chaud which is a hot drink made of red wine mixed with orange juice, nutmeg and cinnamon. Afterwards we’d go home and wait for Christmas morning to open our gifts,” Tissot said.

Tissot says that what she misses the most is her family.

“Also the charm of the Christmas lights and the Christmas markets in the small towns in December, but mostly walking in the snow to go to the midnight mass with my family and to see the whole town slowly getting there,” Tissot said.

Tissot has tried to incorporate her traditions.

“I still celebrate Christmas and go to mass, but the feeling is different here, it is a big city and there is no winter weather,” Tissot said.

French teacher Paulina Alcaraz had the good fortune to live in France for a semester.

“Christmas in France is really beautiful, especially if you go Paris, they light up the Eiffel Tower, the trees, it’s the City of Lights and in December it’s even more beautiful,” Alcaraz said.

Families in France get together the day before Christmas to have something called Le Réveillon.

“That’s when they have champagne and get together. After that some of the families that are catholic go to Midnight M ass,” Alcaraz said.

In France kids leave their shoes or stockings next to the chimene for Le Père Noël (Santa Claus) to leave his gifts.

“The difference is that in France they also have a bad Santa Claus called Le Pere Fouettard (Father Whipper) who brings coal or floggings to the naughty children,” Alcaraz said.

The traditional Christmas dessert is called Bûche de Noël, a cake shaped like a log.

“It’s like a big chocorrol, and it is one of the things I miss the most,” Alcaraz said.

Christmas in France is a religious holiday for most families.

“That’s what I like the most, how all families get together and share memories and the birth of Christ,” Alcaraz said.

Chinese teacher Jing Li is from China where they celebrate the Chinese New Year Spring Festival and the Moon Festival instead of Christmas and Thanksgiving.

“They are similar in the way families get together to celebrate them,” Li said.

During the Chinese New Year people usually take seven days off.

“The most memorable day is the Eve, when all family member gather together making dumplings (small pieces of dough wrapped around a filling), watching T.V. shows, setting off fireworks at midnight,” Li said.

Since Li got here, she has incorporated her traditions to American holidays.

“It is common that Chinese people host parties with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas by offering Chinese traditional foods,” Li said.

The world celebrates different things, sometimes even on different days but the goal is the same.

“Those traditions remind people to be grateful for what they have and to share with people,” Li said.