Must-Know Christmas Terms for the Holidays

Hello and welcome to today's class. Our topic today is Christmas. All right, we're going to learn some words that are related to this holiday. Now, for some of you that don't know what Christmas is, this is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. Okay, Christmas is also a cultural holiday for non-Christians. It's also a holiday for even people that are not non-Christians. Now, a Christian is a religious group of people that believe in a God and his son whose name is Jesus. Now, they have this very important holiday which is called Christmas. So it's celebrated all around the world. Okay, it's celebrated more in some parts of the world and then maybe not so much in other parts of the world. So that is why we want to talk about it today. We want I want you to be able to be confident when you're having a conversation that has to do with the holiday Christmas. Holiday. Holiday is an extended period of leisure and recreation especially one spent away from home or in traveling. Now with regards to our topic Christmas, Christmas is a holiday. It's a time that is set aside. Most people have things they intend to do during the Christmas. And this holiday usually happens during the winter season. Okay? Cuz the date for the Christmas is 25th December. All right? So most times students are on winter break. Parents are no longer working because it's maybe five days to the new year or six days rather to the new year. So, most people are in their relaxation mood. That means they're easing off the stress. They're taking time away to have fun. All right. Examples of how to use the word holiday in a sentence is, "I spent my summer holidays on a farm." Now, Christmas is not the only holiday that there is. There are so many other holidays, but for today, we're going to only be talking about Christmas holiday. Another example of how to use the word holiday in the sentence is Sunday is a regular holiday. Now, this sentence is because of the fact that most people do not work on Sundays. All right? So it looks as if almost everyone is doing something other than working. Maybe something recreational. Leisure means something you do in your spare time, something more relaxing. All right. So, the word holiday is a noun because it's a name of a day where people get to relax, where people get to do things that do not stress their brain or things that do not put them under pressure. All right, Christians. What does the word Christian mean? Now, Christians are people. So, the plural of Christians the plural of the word Christian. If we have just one person, then it's Christian. No s. But if we have more than one, Christians. So a Christian is a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Christianity. Okay. So there's a religion that's called Christianity. Like I said earlier, this religion practices the worship of a god. Now, this god has a son called Jesus. All right? In this context, Christian is a noun because it's a naming word for a person who believes in Jesus Christ. So, how do we use it in a sentence? Many of my friends are Christians. Now, this means that the people this particular person relates with are people who believe in this God we're talking about. Another person can make a sentence and say, "The lady in blue is a Christian." Okay? So when you're having a conversation and you say, "Oh yes, her friend is a Christian," you would understand that that means this person believes in Jesus Christ. This person worships a God that has a son named Jesus Christ. Okay? So I would like you to try to use the word Christian to make various sentences. If you say he is a Christian, that's correct. Tell all the Christians to come into the church. That's correct. Now, we will get to the word church. But in the meantime, a church is a building where Christians go to worship. Okay? That's where they go to have their fellowship. Decorations. Decorations are things that serve as an ornament. All right? There are things that we use to beautify something to make it beautiful. Now, why do we need this vocabulary for this holiday? Some of the practices that Christians do during the Christmas holiday is that they get a tree and then they start to decorate the tree with lights, stars, bulbs, colorful things. All right. Now, aside from Christmas, you could decide to decorate your home. You could decide to make it look more eyecatching. That eye-catching that means you want to make it look beautiful. You want to make it look attractive. All right. Now, examples of how we can use the word decoration in a sentence includes the decorations and furnishings had to be practical enough for a family home. Now, this sentence has to do with a particular group of people probably from a from one family or maybe a person that's selling a house and she comes into the house and she says, "Oh, no. I don't like how this place looks. I need this place to look more appealing for a family. All right. I need it to look okay. I need it to look good for this family I'm bringing to buy this house. The next sentence, they used these precious metals in decorations and as ornaments, but apparently attached no great value to them. Okay. So maybe people decorated their home and then they don't have any extra value for the things they used to decorate their home. Now most times people can pass on ornaments. They can pass on things they used to decorate their home. Probably someone's grandma can say, "Oh, you can have this flower vase. I used to have it when I was a teenager, but now I want to hand it over to you. All right, so that is how to use decoration to make a sentence. Shopping. Now, I think this is a word that almost everyone would know, but let's still have a little definition for shopping. Now this is the action or activity of buying goods from shops. All right? So since we said it's an action since we said it's an activity that means the word shopping is a verb. Okay. Sometimes we can also use it as a noun. Okay. We can use it as a noun. That means we can say he went shopping. My hobby is shopping. Now in that context, shopping is now a name of a hobby. When we have things like this, we say that this is a gerand. Now, we're going to talk about that in our next class. Okay? But let's just focus on what we have here. All right? Now this is also a word that we come across when we talk about the holiday Christmas because so many people like to gift their family members. Most people like to say that Christmas is a season of giving. All right. So you have family members shopping for their loved ones. We have spouses remember shopping for each other. And we even have teachers being gifted by their students. All right? So there are lots of giving. People giving to the poor, people giving to the homeless. So there has to be shopping. You know, people have to go buy the gifts that they will give the people they love or the people they want to give. Examples of how to use shopping in a sentence. The girl insisted on going shopping with her mother. Okay. Now, in this context, shopping is a it's a verb. The girl wanted to go shopping. The girl wanted to join mommy to go buy things. With Christmas just around the corner, I should do some shopping. Again, this is a verb. She wants to do something. And what's that thing? She wants to shop. All right. So, these are ways we can use the word shopping in a sentence. Now I also want you to use this word. Now this is a word that you'd certainly have in your daily activities. All right? You don't just shop only when you need to gift someone. You shop when things and you need to buy more groceries in the house. You need to buy more toiletries. You need to even buy clothes for yourself. All right? So shopping doesn't mean that you're buying something for someone. It simply means that you're going to a shop and you're going to get something and then you're going to give the person in the shop some money for what you got. So I encourage you to keep using the word shopping in your sentences. Carol is a religious folk song or popular hymn particularly one associated with Christmas. Now, during Christmas, there's so many songs that people like to sing. We have jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Hack the herald angel sings. So, there's so many songs and this is called sometimes we say, okay, folk song because it's passed on from one generation to another. Okay, we we have our grandmothers that sang the song and they teach it to their daughters and the daughters teach it to the granddaughters. All right, that's why we say it's a it's a religious folk song or it's a hymn. It's written in the book where Christians get songs that they use to praise and worship their God. All right. We sang carols by candle light. Now, this is another practice we see during the Christmas holiday. They lit candles and then they hold up the candles and they start to sing Christmas carols. So, Christmas carol is a synonym for Christmas songs. Right? When someone says I love to listen to so many Christmas carols, the person simply means Christmas songs. All right, but these are different from other songs because they are associated with Christmas. Another example of how to use carol in a sentence is I love the Christmas carol. Okay. So, what Christmas carol do you know or what's your favorite Christmas carol? Mine is joy to the world. Do you know that Christmas carol? All right. Please try to use the word carol in your sentences. The next word we want to take a look at is festive. Now festive is related to a festival when something has relations with a festival especially Christmas. Now cheerful and jovi celebratory. This is a festive season. It's a season where we have lots of meals that are shared. You know, some family members even make it a habit to have meals together, to have this big feast. Examples of how to use festive in a sentence. The festive season is fast approaching. She is in a festive mood. Okay, so you see how we can use that. We can use it to talk about a season. And we can use it to talk about a mood. So when someone says oh I am in a festive mood that means the person is cheerful the person is joyful because when we talk about festives or festival that means we have lots of songs being played everyone is dancing everyone is happy you're giving out gifts you're calling your loved ones to know how they are so that is something you can use to describe a mood I am in a festive mood yay I am super excited Bonfire. Bonfire is a large open air fire used for burning rubbish or as a part of a celebration. Now some people that's how they dispose their their refues and that's yes we know it's not really the right way to do it because of air pollution you know but that is a word for that action. Some people put woods together they put logs together and they set it ablaze. That means they light it up and then they dance around the fire. Now that is this is another activity we get to see in a festive period. This is a way that people celebrate. This is a way that people jubilate. We also see this in in scenarios where people go camping. All right? They're out camping. They can have a bonfire event. Now, a way to use bonfire in a sentence is the neighbors were having a huge party around a huge bonfire. In the evening, we had a huge bonfire which all the streets attended. Now, everyone from the streets, everyone attended this bonfire. All right. The next word is wreath. Now wreath is an arrangement of flowers, leaves or stems fastened in a ring and used for decoration. Now remember the word decoration that means to make something look beautiful or for laying on grave on a grave. All right? So this word wreath can be said to be a noun because it's a name of a thing. Now, this is something else we see Christians use or people use to decorate their homes while they anticipate the Christmas day. Examples of how to use the word wreath in sentences includes, every December I put a Christmas wreath on on my front door. There was a wreath of flowers on it. Okay. Okay. So once we hear wreath that means flower that has been arranged in a circle okay that's been put together and now it forms a circle. That is what we mean by wreath and we get to see loads of it during the Christmas day. Our next word is merry. Now how I love this word and it's simply because it is characterized by festivity and enjoyment. You know, it's a word that can be used when you're cheerful, when you're in a lively mood. It's sin. It's a word we use when we talk about a season that has to do with so much good time. Okay. Now, a way we can use the word merry in a sentence is he wished me a merry Christmas. He wished me a happy Christmas. Okay. So, anything merry me means we're talking about something that has so much good energy surrounding it. Okay? Happy, cheerful, excited. All right? Be always as merry as ever, for no one delights in a sorrowful man. All right? Be happy. Be joyful. That is what this sentence means. Okay? So, this is how we use merry. Merry Christmas. As Santa always says, ho ho ho. Which also means happy Christmas. Christmas Eve. Eve is the day or period of time immediately before an event or occasion. So Christmas Eve is the day before Christmas. So meaning that Christmas is on 25th. That means the eve of Christmas is 24th. So if someone says, "Oh, I'll be at your place on Christmas Eve." That means you're going to be there a day before the Christmas day. They'll be there on the 24th. Now, we can also use eve for other words. We could say, "Oh, he wants to have his party on the eve of his birthday. That's going to mean a day before his birthday. So the next day, the previous day rather, not the next. Okay. So if his birthday was supposed to be on Thursday and he says, "Oh, I want to have my party on my birthday's eve," that means he's going to have it on Wednesday. Examples of how to use the word Eve in sentences includes on the eve of her departure, he gave her a little parcel. That means she was traveling the next day and then he gave her a parcel. We will go to my parents on Christmas Eve. That means they're going to their parents' house on 24th because that's the day before immediately before Christmas. So feel free to use this this word this word eve you know you can use it very often because you can use it for the eve of a party for the eve of an event or anything. It's not just limited to Christmas alone. So, now that we've learned the words that are related with this special holiday, Christmas, let's talk about it. Okay, if you're with someone, please have a conversation about it. What happens in Christmas? What's your favorite thing about Christmas? Is it the carol? The Christmas carol? Is it the Christmas tree that we have to decorate? All right. Which one is it? Christmas which is celebrated on December 25th is one of the biggest celebrations of the year in many countries around the world. It commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. Now like we said earlier, this is a holiday that is really special to people we call the Christians. These are people that believe in a God that has a son named Jesus Christ. So they believe that this Jesus Christ was born on the 25th day of December. So they celebrate this day to appreciate the birth of their God. Besides being a religious celebration and a wonderful exciting time for children, yet lots of children get happy and excited because it has so many wonderful events. They go to see Santa Claus and Santa gives them lots and lots of toys. Christmas is also an important time for family gatherings. People travel long distances to spend time with their families at the end of the year. So that is part of a ritual. People come home, if they live in a in a different country, they all come home probably. They go to their grandparents house. They go to their parents house and they spend this holiday with them. All right? They have a special meal they cook. They share toys. So usually they would have gifts wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree. So when they wake up that this will be done on Christmas Eve. So when they wake up, you could go under the Christmas tree and you pick any gift that has your name on it. So it's really exciting. That's why you say happy Christmas, merry Christmas. Christmas is just a season of joy, a season of laughter, a season of giving. That is why this is important not just to Christians because sometimes we have non-Christians that celebrate it because it's a very fun event. is a very joyful holiday. All right. So now that we know so many things about Christmas in English language, I encourage you to talk more about this topic. If you are in a gathering and you hear something about Christmas, you can, you know, chip in a few words here and there and then when you're listening as well, you get to understand the vocabularies that are being used. Yes. So, just a little vocabulary review to refreshen our memories. Choose the closest meaning. Circle the word or phrase with the closest meaning to the underlined word. All right. The first word is carroll. What is the closest word to it? Is it box, tree, song, or gift? When you hear someone say, "Oh, that's a Christmas carol." What comes to your mind? Festive. What's another word? Or what a word that has a similar meaning. Is it a trying, celebratory, messy, or honorable? Period. Gift. Is it custom, show, cake, present? Which is it? Which word has the closest meaning? Mary. Is it girl, happy, a lot? funny. What's your answer going to be? And finally, number five, annual. Does that mean always, daily, apple, or yearly? All right, I want you to give this your best shot. What does that word mean? What is the closest word to the words we have as our questions? From the option, pick the one that has a similar meaning. All right? Trust me, you can do it. And when you get the answer, please try to put it in a sentence and see if they both fit. If they don't fit, then you try to look for another word. That's a clue on how to find the answer. Well done. If these were your answers, then congratulations. Awesome. I am super happy because I know the hard work you put into this. And then look at look at the success you made. All right. Carol Christmas carol Christmas songs. Awesome. Festive celebratory. It's a celebratory period. Is a festive period. Gift. Can I get you a gift? Can I get you a present? They mean the same thing. Happy Merry Christmas. Happy Christmas. Now, I know you might want to say merry birthday, but the best word for that is happy. Happy birthday. Annual. Yearly. When something happens annually, that means it happens every year. Okay? Every year. So, well done. Well done. These are the answers. Please feel free to use these words in your daily sentences when you want to speak English. Congratulations and well done for finishing this particular material. And I just want to take out a few minutes to tell you you're doing a good job. Don't stop. Consistency. If you keep doing it, keep doing it one step at a time. You're definitely going to get to the point where you don't need any material to have a lengthy conversation in English language. So don't stop. Get to the next one. You can do it. Good job. All right. Goodbye now.