Every year, on Christmas day (December 25th) at 3pm, Queen Elizabeth II gives a speech live on BBC television. Most people have their Christmas dinner at lunch time, and by 3pm they have finished washing the dishes and have sat …
Nowadays, Christmas is two days long. Christmas Eve (Dec 24th) is really just the preparation for Christmas, and many Christians go to midnight mass, to see Christmas Day start. Christmas Day (Dec 25th) is the main day, when children receive …
Throughout December people get together in groups and sing Christmas carols (such as Silent Night) in public places such as shopping centres, or door-to-door. People listen to the carols and then donate some coins to the charity the singers are …
Christmas presents – from family, from Santa: There are two sets of presents at Christmas for children. It always seem unfair for parents that they have to save money all year to buy many presents from Santa, and also a …
Christmas Cards: Christmas cards are like New Year’s cards for Japanese – a way to keep in touch with people we don’t see often, but also to all our friends and colleagues. What is different to Japanese New Year’s cards …
The Christmas tree is a kind of pine tree. Traditionally, people used a real tree, freshly cut. The tree makes the house smell fresh but the ‘needles’ fall down and make a mess every day. Because of this, many people …
Traditionally, Christmas festivities lasted 12 days, from Christmas Day (December 25th) to January 5th. There is an old song (about 1780) in which somebody gives a different present on each day of Christmas to the same person. In the song, …