Christmas


Some jokes










Some quotations


Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling. -Edna Ferber

I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up - they have no holidays. -Henny Youngman

I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included. -Bernard Manning

 I wrapped my Christmas presents early this year, but I used the wrong paper. See, the paper I used said 'Happy Birthday' on it. I didn't want to waste it so I just wrote 'Jesus' on it. -Demetri Martin

Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip.  -Gary Alla
funny:
When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? -Gilbert K. Chesterton
Santa Claus has the right idea - visit people only once a year. -Victor Borge

There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to strangle you simply because it is Christmas. -Robert Staughton Lynd

Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home.  ~Carol Nelson

Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it.  Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.  ~Richard Lamm

I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark.  ~Dick Gregory

From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it.  ~Katharine Whitehorn

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts.  ~Janice Maeditere
Christmas is the season when you buy this year's gifts with next year's money.  ~Author Unknown

Nothing's as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas.  ~Kin Hubbard



Some advice


Responsible consumerism






Some Songs

WHITE WINE














Some videos






















Some New Year's Resolutions







Something to read





  • I Hate Christmas
  • Intermediate English Listening - Christmas Shopping in Oxford Street
  • Intermediate English Reading - Charity Giving at Christmas
  • Christmas Vocabulary: Christmas Hates and Christmas Loves - The English Blog | The English Blog


  • Some traditions





    New Year's Traditions


    Auld Lang Syne 



    Every year, the streets ring with the same lilting song. Sweet, nostalgic, hopeful; "Auld Lang Syne" has become an absolute tradition in New Year's Eve celebrations. 

    And so, we sing. Or, at least, we sing the first couple of lines and politely mumble the rest into our champagne glasses. Despite its vast popularity, it's a song that very few people can actually recite the entirety of. 
    The song, of course, derives from a 1788 Scots poem by Robert Burns; now set to the tune of a traditional folk song. Burns never intended his work to act as a farewell to the old year; it's a piece which partially reproduces, partially originally pens an older folk tune. He originally sent the piece to the Scots Musical Museum with a note, "The following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man."



    Auld Lang Syne in films














    Dinner for one
    German New Year's Tradition


    - The same procedure as every year
    It's a bit bizarre when you think about it. A short British cabaret sketch from the 1920s has become a German New Year's tradition. Yet, although "The 90th Birthday or Dinner for One" is a famous cult classic in Germany and several other European countries, it is virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, including Britain, its birthplace.
    Although newer versions have been produced (including a Plattdeutsch radio version and CD versions in other dialects), every year around Silvester (New Year's Eve), German television broadcasts the classic, black-and-white English-language version filmed back in 1963 in Hamburg. All across Germany, from the 31st of December to January 1st, Germans know it's the beginning of a new year when they watch this annual event.







    Some vocabulary

    Games, Trivia, etc

    BBC World Service | Quizzes | Quiznet | Christmas

    Learning English - 6 Minute English - Festive feelings

    http://www.insideout.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/NIO520-Christmas-quiz.pdf
    http://www.insideout.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/NIO520G-Christmas-quiz.pdf

    Some Christmas recipes

    BBC - Food - Occasions : Christmas recipes and menus

    Some links

    BBC - Culture - 10 great but overlooked Christmas movies


    Some adverts & traditions

    he John Lewis & Partners Christmas advert is a television advertising campaign released by British department store chain John Lewis & Partners . Theylaunched their first Christmas advert in 2007. It has since become something of an annual tradition in British popular culture, and one of the signals that the countdown to Christmas has begun in the UK.[ The adverts tend to attract widespread media coverage and acclaim upon their release.[

    The songs used in the advertising campaigns are (excluding 2018) covers of existing songs by different artists. They have often reached high positions on the UK Singles Chart, and the original versions often receive a sales boost.

    Youtube parodies go viral every year.


    The adverts have led to some fierce competition, most notably from Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Boots.