Christmas in the United Kingdom
Christmas is a traditional Christian holiday. On that day, people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. In the United Kingdom, it is celebrated on the 25th of December, it is one of the biggest and most popular holidays in the country.
Although Christmas is a religious holiday, it is celebrated by everyone, not only religious people. Nowadays for many people Christmas is just a family holiday when they can get together, have a special dinner and give presents.
The celebration of Christmas is preceded by the Season of Advent, it begins about one month before Christmas Day. People spend Advent in different ways. It is a quite important period for some religious people, they spend it preparing for Christmas. For a lot of people, it is just a period when they prepare for the celebration. There is a lot of things a family might need to do before Christmas Day, such as decoration, shopping for presents, writing cards, making special meals, sending out invitations. It is traditional to buy Advent Calendars for children or even grown-ups. An Advent Calendar is a calendar where each day until Christmas Day is represented by a small box. Children are supposed to open one small box every day. Usually, there is a treat or just something nice in it.
Christmas Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, and many people see it as a day they can spend with their families and friends. In December most families buy Christmas trees, put them up in their houses and decorate them. Usually, the decorations include tinsel, baubles, paper snowflakes. The top of the tree is decorated with an angel or star. People also send cards to their friends, the cards usually say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!’
The celebration begins on the 24th of December, on Christmas Eve. Children leave a stocking for Santa Claus who brings them presents during the night. Parents tell their children that Santa knows who has been a good child and who has not. He leaves presents for good children, but he might leave a piece of coal for those children who have not been good. But, of course, usually, children find only presents but not coal in the stockings the next morning. Some people go to church on Christmas Eve, they listen to the Christmas stories and sing carols.
On the 25th of December children open their presents, it is always a very exciting morning for them! In the afternoon people have dinner. They might pull crackers before it and congratulate each other. Traditionally, most people have a turkey for dinner and, of course, a Christmas pudding. At three o’clock people watch TV, every year the Queen congratulates everyone and says ‘Happy Christmas’.
The 26th of December is called Boxing Day. It has nothing to do with boxing as a kind of athletic competition, the word ‘boxing’ refers to boxes with gifts. In the 19th century, Boxing Day was a day when people shared their food with the poor. Nowadays, Boxing Day is an official holiday in the UK.