 Christmas Day
December 25
UK Public Holiday
= Banks and many shops close in the UK
This is a religious (Christian) festival. Families and friends spend time together, exchange presents, and have special things to eat and drink (turkey, for example).
This holiday is celebrated in both the UK and the USA.
At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
Thomas Tusser, 16th century
 Christmas Jokes
Q: What to you call a reindeer with no eyes?
A: No eye deer
Q: What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?
A: Claustrophobic
Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
A: Frostbite
Q: What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
A: Snowflakes
Q: What do you call a reindeer wearing ear muffs and a big woolly hat?
A: Anything you like - he won't be able to hear you!
Q: Mum, Can I have a dog for Christmas?
A: No, you can have turkey like everyone else!
Q: Who is never hungry at Christmas?
A: The turkey - he's always stuffed!
Q: What beats his chest and swings from Christmas cake to Christmas cake?
A: Tarzipan!
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 Things to do:
Improve your vocabulary
Exercises at St Clare's Study Centre:
Exercises at other Websites:
Wish friends from other countries "Merry Christmas" in their own language:
Improve your listening
 Exercises at other Websites:
- Christmas is coming! (Advanced)
Listening exercise at Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab (.wav or Real Audio player required)
- The Christmas Gift (Advanced)
Listening exercise at Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
- A Child's Christmas in Wales Hear Wales' most famous poet, Dylan Thomas', recollections of the sounds and smells of a long-ago Christmas in the seaside town of his youth (from the Harper Audio release "A Child's Christmas in Wales") (Requires: midi or Real Player)
 Listen to Christmas music
- Twelve Days of Christmas (Any level)
Christmas Music at Elycia Web Design's site, using Real Audio, performed by John Denver and the Muppets (needs Real Audio)
View people talking about Christmas in the BBC Video Nation Video Archive
(BBC Video Nation is a collection of video clips of ordinary British people, filmed by the people themselves, talking about what interests them) (Requires: Real Player)
- Presents by Kim Hilley. 1.55 mins, 06 Nov 1996
It's months to go yet, but Kim's family have already done most of their Christmas shopping. Her mother's bought them a puppy, and she herself has got all the presents for her brothers and sisters. They're all hidden under her bed.
 Christmas Past by Margaret Robbins 2.21 mins, 08 Dec 2003. Margaret and Tom remember Christmas of old. Margaret tells of how she dodged the people she didn't want to kiss under the mistletoe! - Santa by Stan Olivieri. 1.28 mins, 11 Dec 2003. Stan decorates his house on the Wirral with Christmas lights every year. He's had visitors from all over the world come to see his grotto.
- Christmas Worries by Graeme Higgins. 2.30 mins long, 12 Dec 2002. Graeme Higgins, a firefighter, with a young daughter, and a pregnant wife, is worried about how the family will cope financially at Christmas.
- Christmas House by George Mander, 3.01 mins, 12 Dec 2003. People come from far and wide at Christmas to see the decorations and Nativity scene at George and Joyce's house. And it's all in a good cause...
- Christmas Lights by Iris Wilding, 3.17 mins, 15 Dec 2003. Eddie and Iris have been decorating their house at Christmas for the past eight years, and they love seeing the hundreds of people that stop each year to have a closer look, but Iris has never yet told Eddie how much it costs them!
- Giving by Hannah Carter. 1.54 mins, 16 Dec 2003. Hannah's started wrapping presents. Nothing big - nothing expensive. Christmas is all about giving. Isn't it?
- Meaningless by Joe Pumford. 1.34 mins, 19 Dec 1997. Joe loathes the hypocricy of Christmas. He hates the decorations, the drunkenness, the commercialisation, the waste of money and the fact that complete strangers come up to him wish him a happy Christmas.
- Xmas Eve, by Maggie Farrell. 1.59 mins, 24 Dec 1999. Maggie has three small sons, and in order to be scrupulously fair she has to buy each one exactly the same Christmas presents. Tonight she puts three of everything under the tree.
- Christmas by Ann-Kay Lin 1.45 mins, 25 Dec 2002. Ann-Kay loves the feeling that Christmas brings. She reflects on memories of her childhood and how Christmas seemed just another day.
- Xmas 2002 by Will Garnett. 2.30 mins, 27 Dec 2002. Will has had a busy Christmas, renovating the garden, looking after his family and recovering from his work's Christmas do!
- Christmas by Graeme Higgins. 2.05 mins, 29 Dec 2002. Graeme and his family have had an enjoyable christmas and they are looking forward to the year ahead and the arrival of the new baby.
- Robin's Xmas by Robin Rendell. 2.56 mins, 20 Jan 2002.
Robin leads an independant life living in a house for people with Downs Syndrome. He tells us what Christmas means to him.
Learn about Christmas
 General
- Christmas (BBC - Religion & Ethics)
- All about Christmas Everything you could want to know about Christmas (from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia)
- How Christmas works
A guide to Christmas customs and traditions (from howstuffworks.com)
Christmas around the world
- Holidays Around the World: Christmas
Articles from the World Book Encyclopedia, including:
- The history of Christmas
- How Santa Claus came to be
- Advent and the celebration of Christmas
- Christmas around the world
- The Christmas tree and other customs
- Christmas recipes and crafts from around the world
- WorldView Christmas
Click on a map of the world to learn about how Christmas is celebrated in different countries
- Christmas traditions: customs round the world
How different countries celebrate Christmas
- Pantomimes
A British Christmas season tradition (from singingsnowmen.co.uk)
Christmas? No thanks!
- Has Christmas become too commercial?
Read and/or listen to a report (from BBC Learning English, Words in the News, 23rd December 1999) on the question of whether the Christian festival of Christmas has become too commercial
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Christmas Resistance
An organisation of people who boycot Christmas shopping, decorations, cards, and every variety of Christmas crap. No shopping, no presents, no guilt!
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Boxing Day
December 26
UK Public Holiday
= Banks and many shops close in the UK
This is part of the religious (Christian) festival of Christmas. Traditionally, this was a time to give money to people who gave you a personal service, for example, the postman or dustman.
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 Learn about Boxing Day
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