Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.
Preparation
It's that time of the year for family, friends … and cheesy Christmas music. For many people, Christmas is quite simply (as an old pop song says) 'the most wonderful time of the year'. For others, it is an exhausting exercise in bad taste. So what does a British Christmas involve?
Special days
Christmas is a celebration that lasts for several days. In the UK and many other countries, the main celebration takes place on Christmas Day (25 December). From the Christian origins of the holiday, this day marks the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas Eve (24 December) is the time for last-minute shopping and preparations, present-wrapping and maybe a drink in the pub. Others will be at home preparing food for the big day or at a midnight church service to welcome Christmas Day. Boxing Day (26 December) is also a national holiday in the UK – a necessary one for many, to recover after eating too much the day before! Shops are usually open on Boxing Day and the big after-Christmas sales begin.
Decorations
From huge cities to tiny villages, the month of December sees buildings and streets covered in coloured lights, red ribbons and smiling Santa Claus faces. People also decorate their houses (and sometimes their gardens) for the Christmas period. The most famous decoration is, of course, the Christmas tree – a pine tree covered in little shiny decorations and fairy lights. Some people put a nativity scene in their house. This is a collection of little figures who represent the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
Family and friends
Christmas is a time to be with the people you love. Often, this involves travelling to your hometown to be with parents, siblings, cousins, old friends, etc. For some households, it's the only time of the year when all the family is together. In the UK, this is usually a time for chats, cups of tea and watching Christmas films together. However, it can also lead to occasional family tension. But don't worry: there are plenty of impossibly cheerful pop songs to help everyone relax!
Food
Christmas meals vary across households, but the most common Christmas dinner in the UK is a roasted turkey with vegetables and potatoes. This may be accompanied by stuffing (made with bread, onions and herbs) and pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon or pastry). And, of course, delicious mince pies – little sweet cakes with fruit inside. This is, of course, fantastic if someone is cooking for you. If you're the cook, you may feel under a little pressure as the extended family start arriving for dinner!
Presents
Christmas is certainly the most wonderful time of the year for retailers! The days and weeks before Christmas are characterised by frantic shopping for presents. Many groups of friends or workmates take part in a 'Secret Santa' group. This is where each person buys a small present for one other person in the group, but the identity of the giver is never revealed. In many countries, Christmas Eve is a night for kids to go to bed early before their house is visited by Santa Claus, a magic man in a red suit who leaves presents for all the kids in the house.
Parties
Apart from dinner at home with family or friends, Christmas is also a time for parties. At school, children often do a Christmas theatre performance or sing Christmas carols in a concert, then have a party with sweets and cakes. For adults, most workplaces usually have their Christmas 'do'. This can be a dinner in a restaurant or just a few drinks in a bar. At workplace parties, many romances have started under the mistletoe, a special plant which people hang from the ceiling. If you meet somebody under the mistletoe, the tradition is to kiss that person.
However you celebrate Christmas, for many it's a time for having fun and spending time with the people you love. Plastic decorations and neon Santa Claus faces might be considered to be in bad taste by some people, but without them, it simply wouldn't be Christmas.
Christmas in Colombia
There is no doubt that Christmas in the most expected holiday in Colombia. And I will tell you why…
Special days
Always my friends ask me why is so special this celebration for me, and I tell them is because it’s the moment to spend more time with family and friends and the most important: Christmas starts on the 16th of December and finish on the 24th. We do something call “la novena” we meet every night to pray an sing some Christmas carols. It is necessary that you have some food to share with your guest.
Decorations
The decorations here are more common to be concentrate in the birth of Crist because we are a religious country and of course the Christmas tree.
Family and friends
Like I said earlier, we get around with some friends and family to make the novena. It is more common to spend every night in different houses, except on 24th of December because it is the moment only for Family.
Food
Most common Christmas dinner in Colombia is something called “buñuelo” and the “natilla”.
Presents
The presents open on 24th of December at 12 pm, and the most important thing is that Santa Claus is not the person that give us the presents but child god does.
Parties
In the Novena we do a lot of Christmas carols and then there are finished we always dance, because we love it!
i never did celebration this some times i will do it
The first question, I have never celebrated the Christmas because my religious.The second question, The first time I’m going to live experience ceremony Celebration Christmas in UK . And I will see if it is amazing or not.
I don't celebrate Christimas, but it's a beautiful time.
Hi guys, This text really well is prepared for readers. Christmas Day usually dont celebrate in my country. instead of this people gives gift to each others in 31 December at night. I understood from text that now people dont remember mean of Christmas.
Hello 1Enginner,
Yes, it's true that for many people Christmas in not a religious holiday, though of course that is how it began.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, how is your celebration different from what is described in the text?
yes, I celebrate Christmas day because this day my father was born we celebrate my father's birthday by decorating our house and purchase gift and enjoy with our family together
Although I'm Buddhism, I like Christmas. When I was a university student, I took part in the celebration of Christmas. We sang Christmas carols in front of the hostel and the warden of the hostel fed us with snacks and drinks. It's so cheerful.
I celebrate it with my family. Before midnight, we go to a bakery to bake a chicken. Afterwards, we had dinner together and toasted with champagne.
It's a different celebrartion in my country, called Hanukka. It's the closest holiday we have in its date to Christmas. Although some do celebrate it in Israel (not Jews), and there are some beautiful places decorated for Christmas, it isn't really a part of the country like it is in the UK.
I've been in some of the places with Christmas decorations in here, and they are either really lame or really spectacular.
I love Christmas specials on tv, episodes of my favorite series dedicated for Christmas usually add a lot and bring me joy. Can't think of one Christmas special I didn't like, even for shows I think have stopped being fun.