I enjoy the occasional guest writer submission too. Below is an article from a brilliant kenyan writer- Dennis Kiranga.

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With Christmas just around the corner and the holiday mood kicking in, it’s time you probably thought of doing something unique. While it’s important to dedicate most of your time to family, you could also plan out some fun activities to carry out with the ones you love. For example, you could visit the local children’s’ home. You’ll be surprised at how much a simple visit can brighten up the kids. Alternatively, you could go visit the elderly in their homes. Do you have any enjoyable Christmas traditions that you practice in your family? Or are those traditions a tad too weird if you told your friends about them? Well you’ll be surprised to find out some of the wackiest Christmas traditions practiced by people around the world.

Ever heard of a country whose residents eat caterpillars for Christmas? In South Africa, it’s a very popular delicacy.  The locals deep fry the caterpillars, giving them no chance to blossom into beautiful emperor moths.

In Norway, you don’t have to clean the house during Christmas Eve. Instead, all brooms are stacked away in a safe place so that witches don’t steal them. So if you’re suddenly missing your broom this holiday season, you've probably made some Norwegian friends. J

In Germany, children choose one shoe from their favorite pair and put it outside on the 5^th of December. They wake up the next morning to find their shoe filled with sweets. However, those kids who've been naughty get a tree branch instead.

Here’s an interesting tradition for all those unmarried ladies out there: in the Czech Republic, ladies who haven’t jumped the broom throw out one of their shoes as they’re standing by their doorstep. When the shoe lands with its toe pointing back at them, then chances are they’ll get married in the next year.

There’s a wacky tradition that exists in Iceland which involves a cat. Apparently this cat lives in the country’s hills and every eve of Christmas comes down from its magnificent abode to consume those who didn’t get new clothes for Christmas. You might be thinking about how ridiculous this sounds but Icelandic kids probably get a lot of favors from it. J

Where do you spend your Christmas day? Most people spend it indoors in the company of family and friends. However, the Japanese are not huge fans of the indoors, at least not during Christmas. They go out as a family and treat themselves to scrumptious meals at the KFC, a popular global fast food chain.

Let’s move on to a not-so-wacky tradition in Finland. The Finnish light up beautiful candles to pay tribute to those among their loved ones who have moved on. The candles are placed at their graves, creating a sight to behold.

Have you ever tried out a sauna treatment? An Estonian tradition requires the residents of Estonia to go to the sauna as a family. There’s apparently no shame in sitting in a vapor-filled room as a family with nothing but your towels on, is there? J

Most of these traditions seem very weird. However, they’ve been around for years. Enjoy your family traditions this Christmas!