CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
turkey snow
present mistletoe
carols holly
tree card
party New Year
stocking Boxing Day
mince pie holiday
reindeer Christmas Eve
mulled wine winter
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
Christmas crossword: Learner A
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
Christmas crossword: Learner B
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
Christmas vocabulary definitions
Boxing Day The day after Christmas Day
Card This has a message written in it and is given from one person to
another at Christmas
Carols Traditional songs sung at Christmas
Christmas The day before Christmas
Eve
Holiday A special time of the year when you do not have to go to work
Holly A green, thorny plant with red berries used to decorate people’shomes
Mince pie A traditional sweet pastry filled with fruit
Mistletoe Couples traditionally kiss underneath this plant at Christmas
Mulled wine Hot, spiced wine which is drunk at Christmas
New Year The celebration between December and January when January 1st begins
Party A meeting of people for a celebration, usually with music, food and
dancing
Present A gift given from one person to another
Reindeer The animals that pull Santa’s sleigh
Snow Soft pieces of frozen water that fall from the sky when the weather iscold
Stocking A large sock into which gifts are placed on Christmas Day
Tree A tall, green thing which is decorated and placed in the house overthe
Christmas period
Turkey Large bird traditionally eaten at Christmas
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
Reading 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.
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.
Paragraph headings
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?
Write about the customs in one festival in your country. You can write
about Christmas or any other festival.
