Close your eyes and try to imagine this: the streets of Sarpsborg the last days before Christmas last year. Does it look like people are calm, happy, waiting for the festival when we celebrate the birth of Jesus? Can you see any signs of this reason why we celebrate Christmas in the shops, in the streets of Sarpsborg? After taking a really good look, maybe you'll discover a small stable in one corner of the marketplace. Inside, there are a few sheep, hay, a manger, some funny-looking people dressed up like Joseph, Mary and the three wise men. Here you can rest, and think of why we celebrate Christmas. Finally a place which gives you the right associations to Christmas. But does the stable have many visitors? No, rather few. It looks like people no longer care about the reason for celebrating Christmas. The most important for them is to get a holiday, to buy a lot of presents to family and friends, and eat a lot of good food. Where is Jesus among all this?

The time before Christmas is a very busy time, especially because all people have to buy gifts to each other. This is a rather new idea when we look at history, to give each other presents at Christmas. But it's nic

Is it true that Christmas no longer is a family celebration? Nowadays, more and more people go abroad to celebrate Christmas. They are so tired of job, school, and especially the cold that they buy their own Christmas present - a ticket to a southern country where there are more pleasant temperatures. The ones who just are tired of job and school, not the cold, they rather go to a mountain hotel, skiing and enjoying their Christmas in their own way. Christmas is and will always be a family celebration, full of family-parties where the whole family are gathered. And when one part of it then goes to for example Greece or Geilo to celebrate their Christmas, it destroys a bit for the others. It is no longer a real family party where everyone is present - uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, second cousins and so on.

For some people, their Christmas does not turn out to be as they expected. These are a kind of sacrifices, chiefly elderly and children. The elderly are often alone during the Christmas. Either their family doesn't want anything to do with them, or they no longer have a family. I imagine it must be really sad for an old man sitting there at Christmas Eve looking out of the window, the snow is gently falling down, some people are hurrying to buy the last presents, just to go home to a warm house, filled with kindness, children voices and a wonderful smell of Christmas. And this old man has two small Santas in the window, a red table-cloth on the table, a plastic tree with lights that don't work anymore and one little gift under the tree, from an away neighbour. Then there are the children whose father are drinking, and while their mother has toiled the whole week to make a pleasant Christmas, the father are drunk at five p.m., and it turns out to be a horrible Christmas Eve for the children and the mother, where they experience their father and husband from his wo

Some common words found in the essay are:
Christmas Eve, Lønning Attend, Jesus Christmas, Norwegian Christmas, Family Close, Nowember December, Christmas Santas, Greece Geilo, Christmas Finally, Easter Withsuntide, celebrate christmas, family celebration, christmas family, christmas family celebration, christmas eve, christmas people, own christmas, christmas tree, christmas celebration, impression norwegian christmas, tired job, job school, tired job school, reason celebrating christmas, people celebrate christmas,
Approximate Word count = 1271
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)