In German culture, Christmas, and the Advent weeks prior, is a time of Besinnlichkeit, which, like Gemütlichkeit (see earlier blog post on that), is a term that can't quite be translated directly, only approached through approximate synonyms and a description.
American Christmas is "bright" and "merry," a time for joyful Christmas parties and conviviality. The Christmas music reflects that - think of Here Comes Santa Claus, or A Holly Jolly Christmas. German Christmas is reflective in flavor and indicative of the cold, dark time of year when we hibernate and go inward. The German Christmas spirit also expresses the holiness of the celebration. Germans get together for Advent coffee with homemade Christmas cookies and Stollen while listening to Christmas music and lighting the candles on their Advent wreaths; they go to Christmas concerts and Christmas markets; and the kids sit together over Christmas crafts (well, maybe no longer, but we did anyway, when we were young). Many German Christmas songs are hundreds of years old and sound a lot more "churchy," solemn, mystical, and reflective.
It's good to intersperse our hectic technology-infused lives with times of slowing down. Besinnlichkeit is a combination of introspection and reflection, of pensiveness and going inward, of centering and grounding, of connecting with the spiritual. To me, Christmas has always been somewhat mystical, and Besinnlichkeit let's me tap back into that enchanted world of childhood magic.