December Holidays around the World 🎄 A Special English Vocabulary Lesson

Hello everyone! it's Jennifer here with a very special lesson.

I love the December holidays. I always feel like there's a bit of magic in the air.

Something that makes the holiday special is tradition.

Each culture has its own way of celebrating holidays like Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Personally, I enjoy learning about traditions around the world. I bet you do too.

That's why I got a couple of friends together to talk about different holiday traditions.

I think you'll recognize my friends.

Emma of mmmEnglish is from Australia, and Vicki of Simple English Videos is from the UK.

The three of us would like to share different traditions that make the December holidays special for us.

Christmas just wouldn't feel the same without a Christmas tree.

I live in Massachusetts, and here in New England it's easy to find a Christmas tree farm.

Many people buy a real evergreen tree every year.

Other families like mine have an artificial tree.

My children and I start decorating for the holidays in early December.

We put on music, we put up the tree, and then we decorate it with ornaments, lights, and candy canes.

The days are short, so we get to enjoy the Christmas tree lights in the evening.

The really magical moment is Christmas morning, when we find gifts from Santa Claus under the tree

and in our stockings that are hanging from the mantle of our fireplace.

Let's go over some key vocabulary

Real and artificial are opposites when we're talking about Christmas trees.

A real tree grows in the forest or on a tree farm.

An artificial tree comes in a box, so you have to assemble it.

"Put on" is a phrasal verb. If you put on music, you cause it to be heard.

Let's put some music on.

Let's put on some holiday music.

"Put up" is another phrasal verb. When you put up a tree, you erect or build it.

When are we going to put the tree up?

Did you put your tree up already?

Stockings at one point were regular old socks, but today they've become much larger and decorative.

Kids like big Christmas stockings because they can hold more treats from Santa.

When are we going to hang the stockings? Did you hang up your stockings already?

This is the mantle. As you can see it's like a shelf above the fireplace.

People often place photos, clocks, and knickknacks on the mantel.

At Christmas time, it's where the stockings are hung.

Oh, that's interesting!

In England we usually hang our stockings on the end of our beds,

so we can start opening our presents the moment we wake up.

But let me tell you about my Christmas day.

I get up early on Christmas morning to make some stuffing.

I mix up sage - that's a herb,

breadcrumbs, and onions.

And that sticky stuff I'm adding is peanut butter.

Our dog loves it!

This mixture is called stuffing because we stuff the turkey with it - put it inside.

Turkey is a very traditional English Christmas dish, and it takes a long time to cook.

But that's good because I have a lot of other stuff to do.

There's more food to prepare, and the family are coming, so I need to get everything ready for the meal.

When the turkey is cooked, Jay takes it out of the oven and it looks great,

so everyone congratulates him.

Great job, Jay!

And Vicky, of course.

Do you remember what I put inside the turkey?

It was stuffing. If you stuff something, then you fill it.

So you saw me stuffing the turkey with stuffing.

Filling it with the mixture.

But "stuff" has other meanings, too.

It's an informal word that we use a lot in spoken English.

Sometimes it means substance.

So for example that peanut butter was sticky stuff.

"Stuff" is a very vague a nonspecific word.

We use it if the name of something isn't important, or if we don't know the name.

So if you want to know what a substance is called, you can ask, "What's that stuff?"

We also use stuff to talk about actions and jobs. And again, it's nonspecific.

So when I said I had stuff to do, I meant jobs.

But I didn't say what jobs exactly. It was just a group of different things.

One more "stuff" word?

After we've eaten a big British Christmas dinner, we feel stuffed.

"I'm stuffed" is an informal expression, and it means full of food.

Okay, that's enough stuff about Christmas.

Let's go to Emma and find out about New Year in Australia.

While Christmas time is about family and food,

New Year's Eve is about letting your hair down and celebrating with friends.

We reflect on the year that's finished, and we wish each other luck and good fortune for the year to come.

Here in Australia it's summertime,

so our New Year celebrations are usually outside...

at the park,

at the beach, on a boat, or at someone's house.

We're usually drinking champagne or other alcoholic drinks,

and everyone is excited and in a festive mood.

Around New Year's Eve you'll hear this question a lot:

What are your New Year's resolutions?

At the start of a new year, we make promises about

how we're going to do better for ourselves in the following year.

we promised ourselves that we'll

exercise more or lose weight or learn a new language or any other skill.

But to be completely honest, most of these resolutions...

they get broken within the first month of the year.

Of course, the highlight of New Year's Eve is the countdown to midnight, when the year officially changes.

During the final 10 seconds of the year, we count down from 10 to 1 out loud

at the top of our lungs, and then we call out,

"Happy New Year!"

and hug everyone around us whether you know them or not.

And of course, that's when the fireworks begin.

Okay, let's take a closer look at the vocabulary that I used.

I said "to let your hair down."

Now this expression is used when you want to relax and enjoy yourself

and behave much more freely than usual.

I also said "a festive mood."

And we use this word "festive" to describe someone's feelings when they're happy and excited because they're

celebrating something special

like Christmas or

New Year's Eve or Thanksgiving or even a birthday.

Oh, what about a New Year's resolution?

Aresolution is a promise to do or not to do something to try and improve yourself

There are a few collocations that you need to remember when you're using

"resolutions." Verbs that are usually used with this noun,

like make, have, keep, and break.

Do you have any New Year's resolutions?

If you do, share them in the comments.

Do you usually make New Year's resolutions?

I don't keep any of my New Year's resolutions.

I usually break all of my resolutions by the end of January. I'm a hopeless.

I also use the noun "highlight,"

which means the best part. The highlight of the night is the best part of the night.

I mentioned the countdown.

But I also used the phrasal verb "to countdown" and that means to wait for something to happen.

When you're watching the clock and you're waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen, you're counting down the minutes

until something exciting happens.

The countdown is a compound noun and it looks different. The two words are together.

And finally, "at the top of our lungs." And this just means, well, this is an idiom,

and it just means as loudly as you can possibly say something: at the top of your lungs.

Happy holidays and happy studies, everyone

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Happy New Year!

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