Thanksgiving weekend is over, and that means the most wonderful time of the year has begun: the Christmas season! For me, the Christmas season has always started with the conclusion of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Santa smiling and waving at the crowds. Here in the United States, the Christmas season is already a time for friends, family, and fun – but what if you could take the holiday cheer even farther? Around the world, Christmas celebrations aren't limited to December 25, taking place through the weeks leading up to Christmas, as well as the days after. Different countries celebrate with tasty food and drink, festive activities, and memorials, making the Christmas season even more special and memorable. We all have our own individual holiday traditions (mine includes eating a piece of chocolate before any other food on Christmas morning and tracking Santa through NORAD...even though I'm 24), so why not add to your already awesome celebrations by incorporating some of these fun, unique, and sometimes outlandish Christmas traditions from around the world into your Christmas season this year?

1. Visit a German Christmas Market.

Many of our Christmas traditions come from Germany, and this is one more you should definitely adopt! Throughout Germany, Christmas markets pop up in town squares throughout Advent, and sell traditional Christmas merchandise and gifts that are typically handcrafted, such as toys, candles, winter apparel, and baked goods. The markets are also great for Christmas food, usually serving German mulled wine known as glühwein, grilled sausages, gingerbread, marzipan, and more! Christmas markets are such a big attraction in Germany that Viking River Cruises actually has a whole cruise dedicated to visiting them. But don't worry – if you can't get to Germany, Christmas markets are gaining popularity here in the United States as well. My personal favorite is right here in New Jersey at Lake Mohawk in Sparta, but you can also visit the Christkindlmarkt in Chicago, Christmas Village in Philadelphia, Christkindl Market in Denver, Downtown Holiday Market in Washington D.C., among many others. You can even visit a Christmas market in the German section of Epcot at Walt Disney World in Florida! For a list of the biggest German Christmas markets in the U.S., visit USA Today here!

2. Countdown to Christmas with an advent calendar.

Nothing builds up anticipation like a countdown. For many countries, the Christmas season begins with the onset of the Advent. The most traditional advent calendars are a circular wreath featuring four candles, similar to those found in churches. A candle is lit for each of the four weeks of advent. However, advent calendars can be very fun! In Germany, many advent calendars feature a little box or bag for each day leading up to Christmas which contains a little present or treat. I've always gotten a little cardboard advent calendar during December, complete with little chocolates hidden behind tiny doors marked with each of the 24 days of December leading up to Christmas, so I'm all for adopting some kind of advent calendar. You should try it too! You can even create your own advent calendars for a unique twist.

3. Celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6!

You may be surprised to find out that Santa Claus and St. Nick aren't the same character! In many European countries, St. Nicholas actually receives his own day during the Christmas season: December 6. While the tradition varies from region to region, the general way to celebrate St. Nicholas Day is by leaving a shoe outside your door on the night between December 5 and 6. If you are a good child, St. Nicholas will fill your shoe with goodies like candies and chocolates. But if you're a naughty child, you may way up to find birch sticks in your shoe, believed in some places to be left by St. Nick's evil sidekick, Krampus! This tradition of leaving a shoe outside your door is the origin of hanging stockings up for Santa in the United States. St. Nicholas Day would be a great addition to our American Christmas season because it is a day for showing your appreciation of others through giving.

4. Popularize Krampus!

Every good story needs a bad guy, and Krampus is the villain the Christmas season needs. While American children need only fear getting a lump of coal on Christmas morning, children in places like Germany and Austria fear the wrath of Krampus, St. Nick's evil sidekick usually depicted as a horned beast carrying a birch meant for swatting naughty children! Krampus may let you off easy for misbehaving by leaving a birch in your shoe on St. Nicholas Day rather than treats from jolly old St. Nick, but the most extreme stories tell of Krampus carrying off naughty children in his sack! If Krampus is a little too scary for you (and after reading about Austria's Krampuslauf, I'd say that's justified) then consider the other Christmas villain, Knecht Ruprecht. In other regions, Knecht Ruprecht is believed to be St. Nick's sidekick, and he is not so much evil as a rule enforcer. He depicted as a man with a long beard who wears a robe and carries a sack filled with switches (birch rods) and coal to give to bad children.

5. Get a Yule Log!

The Yule log is a Christmas tradition that extends back to before the Medieval Era. In pre-Christian Europe, families would burn a log decorated with holly and ivy and anointed in wine and salt to cleanse the air of the previous year and usher in spring during the winter solstice. As Christianity spread, the Yule log tradition evolved. Hearths became smaller, making the huge logs impractical, but creating the perfect conditions for baking! The first Yule log cakes are estimated to have been invented as early as the 1600's, and were popularized in the 19th century. Today's Yule log cakes are often rolled sponge cake, frosted with chocolate buttercream that resembles tree bark and adorned with edible decorations such as marzipan! And if dessert isn't really your thing, you can observe the Yule log tradition by tuning into WPIX on Christmas Day to watch their loop of a Yule log burning in a fireplace. The Yule log broadcast began fifty years ago in 1966 and features classic Christmas music playing in the background, creating the perfect backdrop to open your presents to this year!

6. Celebrate St. Lucia's Day on December 13!

Those of us who grew up with the original historical American Girl dolls are already quite familiar with St. Lucia's Day, because the popular character Kirsten celebrated it in one of her series' books. But what exactly is St. Lucia's Day? December 13 was the winter solstice in the old Julian calendar, and home to the Scandinavian pagan festival of lights. As Christianity spread, the pagan celebration morphed into St. Lucia's Day, paying homage to the fabled St. Lucia. According to the story, St. Lucia was a young Christian girl who used to secretly bring food to Christians hiding the catacombs of Rome, wearing candles on her head so her hands would be free to carry food, and who was eventually killed and martyred for her beliefs. Today, families in Scandinavian countries celebrate St. Lucia's Day by having one daughter dress as St. Lucia in a white dress, red sash, and lingonberry crown topped with candles, who serves the family coffee and baked goods such as Lussekatts (saffron buns). Boys can be involved too by dressing as Stjärngossar, or Star Boys. The holiday is the beginning of the Christmas season in Scandinavia, and represents bringing light into the darkest time of the year!

7. Mix up some Christmas drinks from around the world!

Drinking is a treasured holiday pastime we all have in common. Don't settle on boring old eggnog – many countries have their own traditional holiday drinks that you should add to your selection this Christmas! (And many don't have to be alcoholic!) Have a glass of German glühwein, a mulled red wine spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and orange, or Sweden's similar glögg, which features almonds and raisins. If wine isn't your thing, try a British wassail, so named for the ancient tradition of "wassailing," which is a mulled cider. Another warm Christmas drink is Mexico's ponche navideño, a hot punch that includes sugar cane, apples, pears, raisins, and prunes, made into an alcoholic beverage with the addition of rum or tequila. The Puerto Rican version of eggnog, coquito, also sounds really tasty, made with spiced rum, condensed milk, coconut, vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. If you're not a winter person and you want to be whisked back away to the warmth of summer, try the Jamaican Christmas drink, sorrel punch, made with hibiscus, sugar, lime, and rum. For more Christmas drinks and recipes, check out the Daily Meal here!

8. Celebrate Christmas Eve with the Feast of the Seven Fishes!

Do you like seafood? Then this is the Christmas dinner for you. While its origins aren't exactly concrete, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is a popular Christmas tradition for Italian Americans as well as in Italy, in which families begin a feast of seven seafood courses following their return from midnight mass on Christmas Eve. There are several theories about why there are seven dishes, such as representing the seven days it took God to create the earth or the seven sacraments, but the name is rather misleading. Some families choose to prepare less – or significantly more – dishes. There is no set rule as to what your dishes should be, except for that it should be seafood and should be consumed with family! Bon Apetit's guide to creating your feast suggests salmon rillette, a cold seafood salad, grilled shrimp, pasta with seafood, a seafood stew, a palate cleanser like gelato, and a tasty dessert!

9. Bring back wassailing!

Yeah, I know we can go Christmas caroling whenever we want. But I want traditional wassailing to come back! Why? Because it's basically trick-or-treating at Christmas. Wassailing began as an ancient Anglo-Saxon tradition, probably pre-dating Christianity, and celebrations generally took place on Twelfth Night (January 6). It involved a band of merrymakers who would go house-to-house singing traditional songs in exchange for money, food, or hot cider. It continued throughout the Middle Ages, eventually morphing into Christmas caroling. Some remnants of the original wassailing practice are still found in favorite carols – for instance, the line in "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" that goes, "now give us some figgy pudding" followed by the threat, "we won't go until we get some." Some countries still have similar practices to wassailing. In Belgium, children dress up as the Wise Men and go door-to-door singing songs in exchange for money or sweets on January 6, otherwise known as Epiphany, and in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, children's caroling groups known as Sternsingers (star singers) carol and collect money for charity during the Twelve Days of Christmas. If so many other countries can have it, I say we adopt it too! I know this is pretty far-fetched and we'll probably just have to stick with regular caroling without getting candy in return, but wassailing would be pretty awesome.

10. Grab some KFC on Christmas!

Here in the United States, Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas may seem like a pretty crazy idea – but it's the standard Christmas meal in Japan! With less than one percent of the Japanese population estimated to be Christian, Christmas is not a national holiday, but thanks to a very successful 1974 ad campaign, "Kentucky for Christmas," people in Japan flock to KFC each December 25. KFC is so popular on Christmas that many people actually have to order their food well in advance to avoid waiting in lines that may take up to two hours! Something tells me you'd be hard-pressed to even find a KFC open on Christmas around here, but if you can, you should totally bring some finger-lickin' goodness to your Christmas party. Who doesn't love some good fried chicken? And I'm sure the kids would appreciate it!

11. Celebrate Boxing Day on December 26!

The Christmas celebration doesn't stop on December 25 in the countries that celebrate Boxing Day: the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. While some people may dispute the origins of Boxing Day, there is no denying that this should be a tradition we definitely adopt in the United States. The day after Christmas, the celebrations continue with family and friends that you did not see on Christmas Day. Typically, the Boxing Day meal consists of leftovers from your Christmas celebrations. It is a day to relax with friends, eat yummy food, and watch sports! In recent years, Boxing Day has also become a big shopping day, similar to Black Friday in the United States. However you want to celebrate, I think extending the Christmas holiday an extra day sounds like a great idea!

12. Take time to remember lost loved ones.

Many of us do this on Christmas anyway, but in Finland, visiting the local cemetery is a very big part of the Christmas tradition. Almost three-quarters of Finnish families visit cemeteries at Christmastime, primarily on Christmas Eve, even if none of their relatives are buried there. Families place candles at the graves of their deceased loved ones, and many cemeteries offer memorials for families to light a candle for loved ones buried elsewhere. The scene of a Finnish cemetery lit up with the lights of hundreds of candles brings light and joy, and often draws people for walks through the cemetery just to enjoy the tranquil candlelight. I really wish that this tradition could catch on here in the United States, but even if it can't, everyone can do their own part to remember their lost loved ones at the holidays. Perhaps it is by lighting a candle at their grave like in Finland, or maybe it's just a kind thought about them at the holiday dinner, but Christmas is definitely a time for family and remembrance that we should all embrace.

Would you consider observing any of these Christmas traditions? What are your holiday traditions? Comment below!