Téli ünnepek a nagyvilágban – szókincsfejlesztő olvasmány

Winter is the most exciting, most enchanting of the seasons and we all look forward to it. The sparkling white snow makes even the dullest and plainest neighbourhood spectacular and beautiful to look at. There is nothing like sitting in the warm room near the fireplace, with a cup of tea or hot chocolate looking out of the window and watching the whirling snowflakes in the crisp and cold winter air. If you like winter sports it’s fun to go out and enjoy the snow. You can build a snowman, make snow angels in the snow or have a snowball fight. You don’t even need any equipment for that. If you are more into sports and like travelling in winter, you can try skiing or snowboarding in the mountains. Skating rinks are easy to find in bigger cities and if you are lucky enough to have freezing cold for weeks you might as well try creating your own skating rink. You only need a relatively big and flat concrete area, a lot of water and some expertise of how to make a nice smooth layer of ice which is suitable for skating.

Winter holidays are another attraction of the season. Santa Claus, Christmas, New Year’s Eve – just to mention the three most important ones. Preparations for the celebrations usually start early. You don’t have to wait until December to start the Christmas shopping. It seems that the Christmas season begins earlier and earlier each year. Shops start to sell presents, decorations and seasonal goods at the end of October already. Whether you like it or not one thing is for sure nobody can escape the craze of trying to find some suitable present for their loved ones. Some people like giving expensive store-bought presents, others prefer giving and receiving handmade ones. Obviously the season is the most exciting for children. Santa Claus brings presents to well-behaved children if they put their clean boots or shoes on the windowsill. Not so well-behaved or naughty children cannot be sure of getting sweets so probably they don’t sleep very well at night on 6^th December when Santa Claus comes.

After the magic of Christmas time you have to wait only a few days for the next celebration to come. New Year’s Eve is a noisy celebration, with parties, crackers and fireworks. People go out to the squares in bigger cities they dance, drink champagne and wait for midnight to come. They usually count the last few seconds of the year in unison and sing the national anthem to welcome the new year. And on the 1^st of January it’s time to make some new year resolutions.