The typical crop of Christmas traditions around the U.S. looks something like this: decorate the tree, put up stockings, leave out milk and cookies for Santa if you have kids around and, who could forget, the endless debate… is Die Hard a Christmas movie or not!?

But Americans all over the country may have different traditions around the Holiday season- some of them more seemingly outlandish than others, but all of them fun and enjoyable for the whole family.

Today we want to highlight 12 unique customs from around the U.S. Who knows, you might feel inspired to try something new out this year, COVID-19 allowing.

But first, we want to start with a tradition that actually takes part around the whole country that not many people have heard of, bird counting!

The Christmas Bird Counting event has been around for 121 years and is hosted by the Audubon Society and, we’re sad to say, it has nothing to do with partridges in pear trees.

Around the country, participants are asked to conduct a census of birds they see within a 15-mi radius as a response to the 20th century Christmas hunts that had become fairly popular in America. In 2018, as many as 80,000 people joined. Hopefully, over the years, more and more people partake and report back on how many birds they’d counter!

Now, let’s get back to wacky Christmas traditions from around the U.S. that you too need to try sometimes!