FRESHMEN:"MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS"

Vocabulary from “Memories of Christmas”

1. Christmas: The birth of Jesus. People give each other presents.
2. windy: With a lot of wind.
3. father Christmas : Santa Claus, the one who gives presents to children on Christmas time.
4. letter: A piece of paper with a message.
5. solemnly: Seriously, respectfully.
6. (to) address: To send something to someone specifically.
7. chimney: Fireplace.
8. excitement: Happiness, anxiety.
9. (to) grow: cultivate, make bigger.
10. advent: Christian period before Christmas.
11. nativity play: Show about Christmas presented in schools.
12. town carol service: choir that sing Chrsitmas songs to people on the streets.
13. snow: frozen water.
14. playground: open space in schools where kids can play on breaks.
15. eve: Before midnight.
16. balloon: Rubber bag filled with air for celebrations.
17. cousin: son or daughter of your uncle or aunt.
18. brandy: Liquor.
19. mince pie: cake stuffed with raisins and sweet food.
20. stocking: big sock for presents on Christmas.
21. awake: Not sleeping.
22. bottom: Down or end part of something.
23. sixpence: British coin.
24. tangerine: Fruit, similar to the orange.
25. roast: Cooked in the oven.
26. turkey: poultry bird.
27. pudding: a kind of cake.
28. crackers: traditional Christmas toy made of carton and paper.
29. bark: sound made by dogs.
30. laugh: physical sign of happiness.
31. speech: words given to an audience.
32. huge: Very big.
33. content: Happy.






Questionnaire from “Memories of Xmas”

1. Who wrote this article?
2. Where does Father Christmas live?
3. What happened the days before Christmas?
4. What season is on England during Christmas?
5. What did people do with snow?
6. What happened on Christmas eve?
7. Who’s Kathleen?
8. What did they do before going to bed?
9. What happened on Christmas morning?
10. What did they eat at Christmas lunch?
11. What happened after lunch?
12. Describe the Christmas cake.


MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS

For me, Christmas always began in the middle of the cold, windy month of November. My sister, Alison, and I sat down in front of the fire and wrote a letter to Father Christmas telling him about all the presents we wanted. We solemnly addressed our letters to “Father Christmas, the North Pole”, before sending them up to the chimney.

With December our excitement grew each day-as we opened the advent calendar, Christmas cards arrived in the post, the nativity play at our school, Christmas lights in the streets, the town carol service. And of course, snow everywhere. Enough snow to make snowmen, build igloos and to have glorious snowball fights in the school playground.

On Christmas Eve, the whole family helped to decorate the house, put up the Christmas tree and the decorations and blow up the balloons. Then, in the afternoon, when Auntie Kathleen and my two cousins arrived, everything was ready. Before we went to bed, we left some brandy and mince pies for Father Christmas and then put out our stockings at the end of our beds. We tried to stay awake as long as possible to see Father Christmas but the next thing we knew it was morning. Christmas morning!

At the bottom of the bed was the stocking, now full of all kinds of small presents and sweets, and at the bottom a chocolate sixpence and a tangerine. Christmas morning was bright and sunny and, after church, my cousin David and I went out into the garden to play with our new presents. Lunch was always late, but what a lunch! Roast turkey with all the vegetables followed by Christmas pudding and brandy butter. When we pulled the crackers, the dog barked; we took out the plastic toys, laughed at the jokes, put on the silly paper hats and laughed again.

After lunch, the adults slept on the sofas in front of the Queen’s speech on television while we all played cards. Then we had tea, with a huge Christmas cake covered with snowmen and polar bears. It didn’t seem possible, but we carried on eating. By bedtime all of the children were exhausted. As soon as we turned off the light, we all fell into a deep, contented sleep.