It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and while many of us will lament exactly where the year has gone, Christmas is here, ready or not.

What I love most about Christmas is those little rituals we develop with family and friends.

Rituals and traditions are important; they bind generations and provide a thread of continuity.

In our little family, it’s decorating the tree together while a Spotify Christmas playlist blasts from the speakers.

It’s a new pair of pyjamas, popcorn, and a Christmas movie on Christmas Eve.

It’s my Grandmother’s favourite cookie and cream log dessert on Christmas day.

She may not be here anymore, but it’s a lovely way to remember her.

None of our little rituals are expensive, but they give us an incredible amount of comfort and joy.

And really, farming, guided by the seasons and the welfare of livestock, is all about ritual and routine.

Celebration and the rhythms of agriculture have been woven together since the beginning of time.

By nature, I like routine and structure, but rituals are routines sprinkled with a little magic.

Anthropologist Bradd Shore describes routines as behaviour on automatic pilot.

But once our acts have crystallized into a fixed routine, Shore said, they may keep evolving, taking on symbolic significance and adding layers of meaning to our actions — this is called “ritualization.”

“We can think of rituals as routines with a significant symbolic load.”

Of course, they evolve and change as the family grows and changes, but these rituals become part of our family story.

As a nation, our festive rituals and traditions are evolving too.

While we may still see a fair amount of snow-themed Christmas décor, New Zealand is beginning to embrace its Summer Christmas vibe.

Because who would want to swap building snowmen for a BBQ dinner in the sunshine followed by a quick post-dinner ocean dip?

That’s showing through in our dinner choices, too.

Ham, a British tradition imported on the first four ships along with cricket and, unfortunately, gorse, has finally been trumped by lamb, according to a 2023  survey.

More than a third of respondents (34.29%) to the survey opted for the classic Kiwi favourite over ham (33.17%). The survey reported that beef was ranked in third place at 13.34%, and chicken (7.97%) prevailed over turkey (7.75%).

Of course you do you, but whatever meat graces your Christmas table, make sure it comes from a Kiwi producer.

And there is no surprise that our dessert of choice is the Kiwi-created (you heard me, Australia) Pavlova, which came out on top by 70.13% of participants, with trifle a popular second choice.

Wherever or however you spend Christmas and whatever rituals you call your own, the team at Rural Guardian thanks all of our readers and advertisers for their support over the last year.

Merry Christmas.

By Claire Inkson