" And atfamilygatherings with their grandmother, there were frequent challenges to recite Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous (and famously lengthy) "Paul Revere's Ride.
Every Irish school child is being pushed to send postcards to some distant relative, imploring family reconnection at one of countless gatherings of the clans being encouraged for 2013.
There are, of course, many other Christmas traditions - the food, the tree, decorations, familygatherings - and some argue that full pews at Christmas-time should be seen as part of that - a purely cultural thing.