'Counting On' news: How does the Duggar family celebrate Christmas?

A promotional poster for the TLC reality television show, 'Counting On.' Facebook/countingontlc

Everybody knows that the Duggar family from the discontinued reality show "19 Kids and Counting" and the currently ongoing spin-off series "Counting On" is not a normal family, not only because of the number of its members but because of their faith-based traditions as well. When it comes to celebrating Christmas, the family has their own take on how to celebrate the season.

Christmas is a very important season for the entire family, and not surprisingly, the center of the pious family's celebration is Jesus himself. The family makes it a point to make all of the celebrations about the deity, somewhat aggressive in doing so.

In effect, Christmas becomes one big birthday bash for Jesus, complete with nativity scenes and birthday banners. The family's patriarch, Jim Bob makes it a point to read the story of the first Christmas from the book of Luke in the Bible.

While most other families celebrate the holidays with Santa Claus, the popular gift giver has no place in the Duggar family celebrations. That does not mean that the members of the family do not give gifts, because gift giving is a huge part of the family's holiday traditions. However, they do their gift giving systematically.

Any family with the number of members that the Duggar family has will have to come up with a gift exchanging system that they need to follow come holiday season. This is what the family does to make sure everyone will get their share of presents come Christmas.

Every Thanksgiving, the family gathers together and exchanges names to determine who will be getting gifts from whom. Older kids exchange names with older kids, while younger kids do so with other younger kids. Parents also get gifts for everyone, like personalized Christmas bags filled with the family's favorite food: beef jerky, chips, and pickles.

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