Christmas in Britain, USA and

Australia

BRITAIN

Christmas is a quiet time of the year in Britain. But before it, people are busy /bizi/
zaneprázdněni – they write many postcards – about 60 and they go from shops to
hypermarkets /hajpəma:kits/ and buy presents for their relatives /relətivs/ příbuzné and
friends. They take holiday for 2 weeks and sometimes spent it in hot countries – Egypt,
Hawaii or Canary Islands/ kenəry ajlənds/.
USA
Americans are very busy too, after Thanksgiving finishes, shopping time starts. They buy lots
of presents, but sometimes they take them back to shops after Christmas, they just want to be
happy and talk about the presents that they have under the Christmas tree.
Australia
In December it is very hot in Australia, because it is summer there. The Australians often
have Christmas on the beach and they go swimming after the dinner.

Customs/kastems/ zvyky in all these countries are the same.

24th December is a working day. People do nothing/nafin/ nic special/spešl/ zvláštní,
sometimes they go to church in the evening and children put up their stockings for their
presents.

25th December is Christmas Day. In the morning children wake up/wejk ap/ vzbudit se very
early and look for /luk fo:/ hledat the presents. They open the presents in the morning, in the
afternoon and sometimes on the next day too. In the afternoon they have special Christmas
dinner – roast turkey with stuffing, roast potatoes, gravy/grejvi/ šťáva z masa, vegetables and
Christmas pudding or trifle/trajfl/ piškot s ovocem. They have funny hats and pull Christmas
crackers after the dinner. In the evening they sing carols, relax and watch TV.

26th December is Boxing Day. It is another day with turkey, because they eat small portions
and have the turkey for about 1 week.They go for Christmas pantomimes – fairy tales/feəri
tejls/ pohádky with words, visit friends or watch TV – football matches are popular.

Questions
1. How many postcards do the English write?
2. How long holiday do the British take?
3. Why do the Americans take some presents back to the shops?
4. Where do the Australians have their dinner?
5. What do people do on Christmas day?
6. What do they have for Christmas dinner?
7. Where do they go on Boxing Day?
8. What do you do 24th December?
9. Do you have fried carp/fra:jd ka:p/ smažený kapr on 24th December every year?
10. Do you sometimes go to parties on 25th December?