Christmas B1

Christmas in Australia

Christmas in Holland

Christmas in India

A. Do you know what these words mean?
turkey / snow / present / mistletoe / carols / holly / tree / card / party / New Year / stocking
Boxing Day / mince pie / holiday / reindeer / Christmas Eve / mulled wine / winter

B. Now, match them to their English definition:

1. The day after Christmas Day
2. This has a message written in it and is given from one person to another at Christmas
3. Traditional songs sung at Christmas
4. The day before Christmas
5. A special time of the year when you do not have to go to work
6. A green, thorny plant with red berries used to decorate people’s homes
7. A traditional sweet pastry filled with fruit
8. Couples traditionally kiss underneath this plant at Christmas
9. Hot, spiced wine which is drunk at Christmas
10. The celebration between December and January when January 1st begins
11. A meeting of people for a celebration, usually with music, food and dancing
12. A gift given from one person to another
13. The animals that pull Santa’s sleigh
14. Soft pieces of frozen water that fall from the sky when the weather is cold
15. A large sock into which gifts are placed on Christmas Day
16. A tall, green thing which is decorated and placed in the house over the Christmas period
17. Large bird traditionally eaten at Christmas

C. Read the text about Christmas customs in the UK:
Many of the Christmas customs in the UK are connected to the winter. People put a Christmas tree, holly and mistletoe in their houses to bring colour and life inside. They also like to put up coloured lights and decorations. This helps to make the house brighter and more cheerful in winter.
There are also many special winter foods which people in the UK eat and drink at Christmas. On Christmas Day they eat turkey at lunchtime, and they eat mince pies, which are small pies full of very sweet fruit. Also they drink hot mulled wine. Sometimes people eat too much at Christmas!
Giving presents is an important custom at Christmas. Families and friends give each other presents in the week before Christmas, or on Christmas Day. Children get very excited about their presents. They have a stocking which they leave by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, December 24th. In the morning they find the stocking is full of presents. Some children believe that Santa Claus fills their stockings with the presents.
The Christmas holiday lasts about a week. Christmas Day, December 25th, is the most important day of the holiday. The next day is called Boxing Day and people often visit friends or other family members. Many people have a whole week’s holiday, and the last day of the holiday is usually January 1st, New Year’s Day, when people celebrate the beginning of a new year.

D. Questions
a) Why do people put coloured lights and decorations in their houses at Christmas?
b) When do people eat turkey?
c) What do children find in stockings?
d) Put these days in the correct order: Boxing Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day.

E. Match the four paragraph headings to the paragraphs in the text:
a) Do people give each other presents?
b) How do people decorate their houses?
c) What do people eat and drink during this festival?
d) When is this festival?