Different people, different families and different countries do things in different ways.
This selection of old photos taken from the Evening New archives includes many of the elements people in Edinburgh will associate with the festive season - nativity plays, Christmas trees, carol singing, going to see Santa, perhaps the panto, and of course, Christmas shopping.
Scroll through the pictures and get a flavour of what Christmas was like in the Capital five decades ago.
5. Christmas gales
Winter gales damaged the Christmas decorations in Edinburgh's Princes Street in December 1979. | TSPL Photo: Hamish Campbell
6. Choirboys in White Horse Close
Choirboys singing carols in Whitehorse Close in the Royal Mile Edinburgh, December 1973. | TSPL Photo: Hamish Campbell
7. Santa visits the penguins
Edinburgh Zoo's penguins politely decline Santa Claus' offer of some Christmas pudding and mince pies when he stops off en route to Jenners department store in November 1978. | TSPL Photo: Denis Straughan
8. Jenners toy department
Little boy with a cowboy hat and a toy rifle on a rocking horse - the toy department of Jenners' store, Edinburgh in December 1977. | TSPL Photo: Stan Warburton