Most French people eat dinner at 8 pm or later. Some French families, especially if they do not have young children, may start dinner as late as 9 pm or 9:30 pm. The first time I went to France, I was confused that my host family hadn’t had dinner by 7 pm yet. “Are they going to skip dinner?” I wondered.

It’s not clear to me why French people eat so late. Alysa Salzberg, a French writer, guesses that the later meal time develops from typical French working hours. “French people eat late because most standard job hours are 9 or 10 to 6 instead of 9 to 5,” Alysa explains. “So, by the time everyone gets home and a meal is prepared, it’s about 8 pm.”

French people usually eat a smaller dinner, such as soup or salad with bread and dessert. Considering French people famously don’t snack, they must survive a long break between lunch and dinner. The solution is that lunch is the biggest meal of the day. Americans and people from other countries may have a simple sandwich for lunch, but French lunches are typically more considerable. I remember having a huge lunch at the host school with other French students last month. The lunch came with salad, bread, a main dish, cheese and a yogurt. It seemed like too much food the first time I saw it.

In addition, French people never eat on the way. It’s unusual to see French people eating a cheeseburger from a McDonald’s while sitting in their cars. I don’t remember seeing French people eating while walking in the street or on the subway in Paris either. French people consider it important to sit down at a table to eat and even eat a hamburger with a knife and fork.

Christmas at my house meant colorful decorations, candles in every window, homemade dinners by Mom and her matching red coat. I always believed that someday my own kids would gather here and enjoy the traditions that had been passed down each December.

Life had other plans Mom found breast cancer in 2006 and died three years later. Three years after her death. I made my yearly trip to my childhood home for Christmas with my dad and sister. When I hunted for Christmas decorations up in the attic, an unusual yellow envelope caught my eye. Inside was a never published children’s book by Mom, dated February 10, 1993. It was titled The Evil Stepmother (Who Wasn’t). It’s the story of a little girl who loses her mother to cancer. Her father soon remarries, and at Christmas, the girl returns home to find her stepmother crying with a woman’s photograph in her hands. The stepmother says that she lost her mother, too, and always misses her most at Christmas.

I read Mom’s book and wondered why she had been moved to write it. She was years away from her cancer at the time. But there was no stepmother in our lives. So I put the book away, found the decorations I came for, and forgot abourt Mom’s book quickly.

Without the home that had been full of so many memories, I didn’t celebrate Christmas any more. I began to avoid the holiday music and even, for a while, the color red.

That changed in December 2017. Dad brought a woman to Christmas unexpectedly. When we first met we hugged each other shyly. Soon, she had Dad and me laughing. It was going so well. The three of us went out to pick out gifts. That’s when “While Christmas” began to play over the store’s speakers. I froze. It was the song Mom sang to me as a child to get me to sleep. Tears streamed down my face.

We got home, and I went to my room to calm down. There was a knock on the door, Dad’s girlfriend. She told me that Christmas was hard for her too and that she had lost her mother to Alzheimer’s.

“Do you see my coat?” she asked. “It was my mom’s. Your dad tells me your mother had a red coat too. Maybe we can wear them together sometime?”

I remembered the scene from Mom’s book and hugged this woman who made my dad happy, who was offering us a second chance at Christmas.

A year later, my sister and I attended Dad’s wedding. This past December, I hosted my first Christmas in New York. My stepmother and I decorated the house, candles in every window. We walked arm in arm down Broadway in our mothers’ red coats.

Mother’s Day is celebrated across the globe, though on different dates. Similarly, the ways of celebrations also vary from country to country. It’s interesting to know how different cultures and traditions catch the spirit of this special day. To know about traditions followed in different countries, go through the following lines.

Mother’s Day Tradition in the United States

In the United States, Mother’ s Day is a national holiday and celebrated on the second Sunday of May. History of Mother's Day is more than a hundred years old in the US. It was after a long struggle by a loving daughter Anna Jarvis that Mother’s Day was declared a national holiday by the US government. On this day, children offer beautiful flowers and gifts to their mothers. Carnations are considered traditional Mother’s Day flowers. Red carnations are symbol of love and affection. White carnations are worn on this day in memory of those mothers who are no longer living.

Mother’s Day Tradition in France

The French celebrate Mother’s Day on the last Sunday in the month of May. Traditionally, a French mother is honored with a cake, which resembles a bunch of flowers. This is followed by a traditional family dinner.

Mother’s Day Tradition in Spain

Unlike France and the United States, Mother's Day is celebrated on December 8 in Spain. Mother’s Day in Spain has more of a religious significance. To make this day special to their mothers, children buy chocolates, flowers and cards for them.

Mother’s Day Tradition in Mexico

Unlike the United States, Mother's Day in Mexico is celebrated on May 10 every year. On this day, churches in Mexico organize special masses. This is followed with distribution of ‘tamales’ and ‘atole’, the traditional early-morning meal for all mothers.