Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.
Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 133 of the Listening Time Podcast.
I hope you're all doing excellent and And I want to wish you a Merry Christmas around this time when this episode is released.
I think Christmas will be in about a week, if I'm not mistaken.
And that's actually the topic of today's episode.
We're going to talk about Christmas and specifically what Christmas is like in the US.
I'm sure that a lot of you are interested in this topic.
This is a really big deal in the US.
The Christmas season is really important.
And it's very unique in this country.
So I'm happy to talk about that today.
I'm sure I've mentioned certain aspects about Christmas in other episodes, but I wanted to do a full episode dedicated to this topic today.
So hopefully it will be interesting and educational for you.
And before we start, remember that if you need my help to understand native speakers when they speak fast, then make sure to join my membership so you can access my listening practice seminars, where I help you understand the real sounds of English when people speak at normal speed.
So the link is down below in the episode description.
That's patreon.com slash listening time.
And, of course, if you want my US Conversations podcast, where I speak to other native speakers from around the country, then make sure to sign up for that podcast.
The link is also down below.
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All right, let's get started.
Are your ears ready?
You know what time it is.
It's listening time.
Okay, let's talk about Christmas in the US.
First of all, I want to mention that Christmas is usually considered by most people to be the most important holiday in the US.
I already mentioned this in the episode about Thanksgiving, but I want to repeat it here today.
Thanksgiving is not the most important holiday in the US.
A lot of people from other countries think this.
They think that Thanksgiving is the most important holiday here, but most people would consider Christmas to be the most important holiday.
So there are a lot of reasons for this.
Of course, at the heart of Christmas is, is the religious aspect of the holiday, the reason why Christmas exists right.
It's to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, right?
So Christians in the US will really value Christmas because it's the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior right, right.
There's a huge reason to celebrate if you're a Christian.
But even if you're not religious, this holiday is probably still the most important one throughout the year, because it's become a holiday that most people celebrate, whether or not they regard the religious aspect of it.
So it's still big just in society beyond just the religious population.
So there is the religious significance, the reason for the holiday obviously, and However, it's also a really big holiday for other people and for other reasons as well.
And we have a whole season around Christmas.
There's the Christmas season.
So the whole month of December is special in the U.S., This month feels different.
It looks different.
It sounds different.
You can tell that it's the Christmas season anytime in December.
And I'll talk a little more about that in just a minute.
But yeah, we have a whole season around Christmas.
That's how significant this holiday is.
And of course, it's a really big family holiday.
Usually, this is a day when you get together with your family and you eat together and you have this time as a family.
Like Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving also has that aspect as well.
But Christmas does too.
And for me, Christmas has more of that.
It's on another level.
So Christmas is really significant for its family aspect as well.
And we have a Christmas culture, I would call it.
In the US, we have a whole culture that is related to this holiday.
So there are a lot of things that are specific to Christmas that suddenly appear around this time of year.
And a lot of things... become different and people do different things.
They even act differently sometimes around this season.
So there's a whole separate culture when it comes to Christmas, and So let me talk a little bit about that.
So during the Christmas season, what happens?
Well, first of all, let me talk about when this season is.
So I think that technically the Christmas season starts right after Thanksgiving.
For some people, the Christmas season starts even earlier.
They already get in the Christmas spirit earlier on in the year.
However, I think that for most people, After Thanksgiving, it's Christmas time.
It's the Christmas season.
So this starts at the end of November, of course, and then it continues on through December.
So we have multiple weeks.
We have a full month where everything feels like Christmas.
The season is in full swing.
In English, when we say that something is in full swing, we're saying that you are now in this period.
You are in this season.
It is happening now.
Now completely.
So by the time December comes, the Christmas season is in full swing and you start to see this Christmas culture all around you.
So there is the visual aspect of this Christmas season.
So, of course, the decorations are a big part of this.
And Christmas decorations usually come up after Thanksgiving and they're taken down in January, usually at the beginning of January.
That's usually when you'll see these decorations.
However, sometimes you'll see them even earlier than that, and you'll see them stay up even later than the beginning of January.
But usually most people have their decorations up throughout the month of December, throughout that whole month.
And we have some special areas throughout our cities where we have really really cool Christmas decorations and Christmas lights.
So if you visit the US during the month of December and you're in a big city, there will probably be multiple neighborhoods where the whole neighborhood has really incredible Christmas decorations.
And each neighborhood that does this has a different nickname, a name for itself.
So the name might be Candy Cane Lane or Starlight Circle or something like that.
And people will go from different parts of the city to see this neighborhood and see all of the decorations and the lights there.
This is a really cool tradition that we have in the US during the month of December.
I'm excited to take my family to see some of these neighborhoods this season.
And they sometimes sell things in these neighborhoods at night when a lot of people are walking through the neighborhood.
They might sell hot chocolate or cookies or other snacks.
It's a whole experience when you do this.
So that's a really cool thing.
And there's also the audio aspect of the christmas season.
I talked about the visual aspect, but there's also the audio aspect, because there is christmas music everywhere.
Everywhere you turn, you hear christmas music.
By the way, when we say everywhere you turn, we just mean everywhere you go, everywhere you look, everywhere around you.
So everywhere you turn, there's Christmas music playing.
When you walk into a store, if they have music at that store, chances are it's Christmas music.
And we have a whole genre of music here called Christmas music.
Musical artists release Christmas albums specifically for this season.
So there is a whole genre dedicated to Christmas music.
So that's something that you'll hear everywhere.
Everywhere you go, you hear Christmas music.
So it sounds like Christmas during this month.
And people watch Christmas movies.
This is a genre of movies here in the US.
We have Christmas movies.
There are tons and tons of Christmas movies.
And some families have the tradition of watching the same Christmas movie or the same Christmas movies every year.
And they've already seen those movies 20 times, but they continue to watch them every year because it's the tradition during the Christmas season.
My sister does this, I think.
She watches a lot of Christmas movies and rewatches them every year.
I don't really do this, but when I was a kid there were a couple Christmas movies that I really liked, and I watched them year after year.
So I participated in that a little bit when I was younger.
And there are Christmas cards that you see in people's houses.
A Christmas card is a card, that that you make by taking a picture, oftentimes with a professional photographer, not always, but sometimes you take a picture during this season with you and your family, And then you create these Christmas cards and you send these Christmas cards to your friends and your family members.
And some people write something on these Christmas cards.
Some people write things about what each person in their family has done this year.
They give you an update on the life of the different family members.
Some people do that with these cards, but other people just put the names of each person on the card, or maybe they just put the last name of the family.
But The picture is the most important part and people will put these Christmas cards on their refrigerator.
They'll use a magnet to stick these cards from different people on their refrigerator or somewhere else in the house.
And so you can see the pictures of all their different friends and family members there on the fridge.
So that's something that's really big here in the US, but I don't think that's a big thing in other countries.
But that's another thing that happens during the Christmas season.
And of course, there's the food.
I haven't mentioned that, but the food during the Christmas season is very particular to Christmas.
So there are a lot of different types of foods that we only eat during Christmas or during Thanksgiving.
And there are a lot of flavors that change during this season.
So certain foods or drinks will have holiday flavors, Christmas flavors during November and December.
You'll see a lot of flavors that incorporate certain fruits or other things that are related to this season.
And there are certain drinks especially that are like holiday drinks, like eggnog for example.
That's something that you buy during the Christmas season but not at any other time during the year.
So that aspect the food and the drinks that changes and that becomes christmasy during this time.
And one other thing that also changes is there's something that we might call Christmas cheer.
So cheer refers to happiness, being bright and hopeful and happy and smiley.
This is cheer.
So during this season people might seem a little bit more cheerful in public.
People will greet you or they will say goodbye to you with a Merry Christmas or something like that.
And you can sometimes feel like people have this cheer and are a little bit nicer during this time of year.
And so that's a good thing as well.
That's something nice regarding the Christmas season.
So as you can see, during the Christmas season, you feel Christmas everywhere.
You feel it all around you, right?
And talking specifically about the days December 24th and December 25th, I also wanted to mention that in the US, Christmas is December 25th.
Christmas Eve is what we call December 24th.
However, Christmas Day, December 25th, this is the day.
This is the most important day.
The 24th is also very important.
However, Christmas is December 25th.
In other countries, December 24th is the important day, and then the 25th isn't quite that important.
However, in the US, it's not like this.
People don't usually stay up all night on December 24th and have this big party into the early hours of the morning and then go to bed really, really late.
That's not the traditional custom in the US.
Some people might do that, but that's not what's most common, I think.
Most people really enjoy Christmas Eve and many people celebrate Christmas. on that day.
However, they probably go to bed at a normal time and kids usually go to bed fairly early.
And then people wake up early on Christmas morning on December 25th.
Kids especially love waking up really early on Christmas Day and going to open their presents.
That's a really big tradition in the U.S.
So December 24th and December 25th are both really important.
However, the 25th is Christmas.
That is the day.
That's Christmas for us.
So I also just wanted to mention that.
And one other thing I wanted to mention is the weather.
So if you live in a place in the US that has four seasons, that has a real winter, people often wonder, hope for a white Christmas.
When we say a white Christmas, we're talking about a Christmas when it snows.
There's snow on the ground and it's white.
So people really like this in the US because the snow makes it feel like Christmas.
I don't live in a city where it snows, so this doesn't exist here.
But in other places, this is something that people really like.
And Christmas feels like a holiday where you're supposed to be inside warm, with your family, oftentimes with a fire in the fireplace.
The fireplace is the part of your house where you can light a fire and then the smoke goes up through the chimney.
And in the US, many people live in houses versus apartments.
Of course, a lot of people live in apartments too.
But here, many, many people live in houses more than people in a lot of other countries.
So here it's common to have a fireplace and you can light a fire and feel warm and cozy by the fire with your family, drinking a warm drink like hot chocolate or something, and enjoy that atmosphere, that nice environment and see the snow outside.
People really love that in the U.S.
Again, I don't have that because I live in Southern California and But that's kind of the romantic image of Christmas that a lot of people have.
So that's Christmas in the U.S.
There are many other things that I didn't mention.
But I wanted to give you a feel for this season and the Christmas culture that we have.
And I love Christmas.
It's my favorite holiday.
And for me, it's the only thing I like about the winter season because I don't like the winter.
It's too cold for me.
The days are too short.
I like the sun.
I like being outside.
I like the warm weather.
So Christmas is the only thing that I really look forward to in the winter.
It's okay if it's a little bit colder and darker, because we have all the decorations and lights and the Christmas atmosphere.
However, when Christmas is over, then I want it to be spring or summer again.
But I love Christmas and I'm looking forward to Christmas this year.
Okay, that's it for today.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Remember that if you need my help understanding native speakers when they speak fast, make sure to join my membership so you can get my listening training.
The link is down below.
That's patreon.com slash listening time.
And you can also sign up for my US Conversations podcast.
The link is also down below.
That's patreon.com slash US Conversations.
And if you like this podcast, please share it and please write a review and give it a five-star rating.
And I want to wish you a Merry Christmas if you're listening to this around Christmas time.
And thank you all for listening.
And I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
