This story is about Professor Verity’s Christmas. Professor hated Christmas. Because of that his whole family could not celebrate Christmas. On 31th December Professor saw someone in the red and white suit. It was the Santa Claus. Santa Claus came nearer and nearer. Santa asked:

-Do you hate Christmas?

-Yes, I do.

-Ok, than come with me.

-I don’t know……ok yes.

When they got outside Professor saw sled. Next to sled there were deers. Professor Verity got inside the sled and they flew. Professor Verity was scared of heights and he was screaming. Professor saw big company. It was Santa’s shop. They landed and they went inside. There were elves. Elves were little. There were wrapping gifts for kids. Professor saw a big bike. It was pink and white. Professor started to like Christmas. Then they went outside and jumped in the sled. They flew. Professor saw very beautiful lights. The lights were in the city, mini-city. In that city there were elves. There was snow everywhere. The lights were angels, trees and gifts. Also there was a huge tree. That tree was very beautiful. It was time to go. It was 11’o clock. Professor already loved Christmas. When they got home they celebrated New Year. It was so fun.

Professor Verity, Mrs. Seeker, Sack, Dr. Simple, Gulliver, Lilliputians and others were at a Christmas party. They got out but when they got out, the Christmas tree was gone. Sack said: We have to go and find the thief from our party. Everyone was sad but they followed Sack. They looked in all of the parks. Then they looked in all of the police offices. They didn’t find the thief. They knew only one place left so they got there. They saw the Christmas tree, it was their Christmas tree. They got happy but they still did not find the thief. They saw a guy next to the tree. It was the thief so they took him home. They ask him a question: Who are you? He said he was Luca but Sack saw him. It was the chief inspector. Sack called him the Christmas thief. Sack was so sad last time that he got out of the party sadly. Lilliputians said: #$%^&*()#&4%. This means that the inspector had to go to the gale. Sack was so happy that he got inspector. They put the tree back in its place and turned the music on and they started a bigger party.

“Bah, Humbug” – an iconic line from a story we all love, said by a character that was written for us to hate. A week before Christmas in 1843, Chapman & Hall published a novella by Charles Dickens that would become one of the most popular stories that still inspires millions of people. A Christmas Carol turns 176 years old this year and over the course of its long life, it has become so iconic, that even if you’ve never read the book, you probably know what it’s about.

 A Christmas Carol takes place on a cold, snowy Christmas Eve in London, England, during the Victorian period in the 1840’s. It is a story of a man who feels no love or joy in his heart, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the bah-humbug-shouting man who hates Christmas, charity, the poor, and everything besides his own goodwill. To be more exact, these are his own words at the beginning – “If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!” He is described as ‘a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone’, this metaphor suggests that Scrooge works hard for his money but is very tight with it. Dickens also uses the harshest weather to describe him ‘the heaviest rain, and snow and hail and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect.’ indicating how horrible of a man Scrooge is, which shows the reader that Scrooge’s personality will play an important role throughout the book.  The story unfolds when he is visited by three ghosts – the ghost of the past, the present and the future. Over the course of his three separate journeys with them, he evolves into someone different, a person that he buried deep inside of him many years ago.

A Christmas Carol could be considered as a metaphor for life. The amount of life lessons that can be learnt from this book is tremendous. One of them being that as uncomfortable as we might feel about it, time only moves in one direction – forward. So, we should live our lives to the fullest, for there may be no tomorrow. Another reason that makes A Christmas Carol so beloved is its morality, the way Scrooge remembers his lost humanity and is led to find it in others. With the ghost of the past he re-experiences the loneliness of boarding school, his father’s cold disapproval and the kindness of his sister. He reminisces his most authentic memories, when he was still innocent and happy. One more great lesson from this novel, that applies to all the generations is that it shows us how easy it is to get caught up in the materialism that surrounds us, especially during the holiday season. Nowadays, we fixate so much on sales and buying many things, that we forget spending quality time with those we care about, and that they are really what should be our priority. Another aspect of Dickens’s original tale is the idea of learning to be compassionate, generous and kind, a timeless aspiration for every generation. Dickens also speaks about ignorance and want. He demonstrates a world in which the poor and suffering are ignored and taken advantage of.

Opposite from Scrooge’s initial statement, this is what he has to say in the end  – “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.” by which Dickens suggests to us the importance of carrying out that philosophy year-round, not just for one day. A Christmas Carol has withstood the test of time and will never cease to touch peoples’ hearts.

Christmas Carols

Author: Ladybird

ISBN: 9781846469589

A collection of Christmas carols for festive family fun. It contains favourites such as:

Away in a Manger

Once in Royal David’s City

Silent Night

And more!

9 GEL

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Ladybird First Favourite Christmas Book

Author: Alicia Padron

ISBN: 9781409309116

The Ladybird First Favourite Christmas Book contains everything you and your child need for hours of festive fun! A beautifully illustrated first Christmas book with a squishy padded cover and sturdy tabs, it is also a perfect Christmas gift for young children. Use the handy tabbed edges to help find and choose a selection of Christmas favourites.

The first section contains five classic Christmas carols to sing along to:

Away in a Manger

The First Noel

O Little Town of Bethlehem

We Three Kings and Silent Night

Or turn to the second section for cheerful Christmas songs:

Jingle Bells

I Saw Three Ships

Up on the Rooftop

Deck the Halls

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

The final section has a simple, child-friendly retelling of the nativity story, helping young children to understand the meaning behind our modern Christmas.

17 GEL

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Jingle Bells and Other Songs

Author: John Byrne, Anne Waugh

ISBN: 9780194333450

Many of your favorite Christmas classics included!

15 GEL

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Harry and the Dinosaurs make a Christmas Wish

Author: Ian Whybrow, Adrian Reynolds

ISBN: 9780140569520

Harry and his bucketful of dinosaurs are back! Harry and his bucketful of dinosaurs see some ducklings hatching and wish they could have one of their own. But it’s the wrong time for wishing so they wait until Christmas when Harry makes a special list for Santa. Christmas Day finally arrives and there is a surprise for everyone – it isn’t a duckling but a gorgeous baby pterodactyl!

15 GEL

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The Battle for Christmas

Author: Jeremy Strong

ISBN: 9780141324630

When Ellie puts on her new pyjamas, strange things start to happen. She and her little brother, Max, are whisked off to the Christmas Shop where a battle is raging between a valiant troop of toys and the scaaaarry Christmas Tree Fairy and her army of angels. Can Ellie and Max save Christmas for the world – or will they be arrested for being mince spies? This is the first book in a new series about the Cosmic Pyjamas. They’re magical and they’re dangerous. You have been warned!

15 GEL

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The Puffin Book of Christmas Stories

Author: Wendy Cooling

ISBN: 9780141306612

This collection of Christmas stories has something for all moods as it includes traditional tales, real life, humour, and most importantly, plenty of the magic of Christmas. Writers range from Charles Dickens to Gillian Cross and Majorie Blackman.

10 GEL

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In a house in Oxford, three people are having breakfast – Carol, her husband Jan, and his father Josef. They are talking about Prague, because Carol wants them all to go there for Christmas.

Josef was born in Prague, but he left his home city when he was a young man. He is an old man now, and he would like to see Prague again before he dies. But he is afraid. He still remembers another Christmas in Prague, many long years ago – a Christmas that changed his life for ever…

This award-winning collection of adapted classic literature and original stories develops reading skills for low-beginning through advanced students.
Accessible language and carefully controlled vocabulary build students’ reading confidence.
Introductions at the beginning of each story, illustrations throughout, and glossaries help build comprehension.
Before, during, and after reading activities included in the back of each book strengthen student comprehension.
Audio versions of selected titles provide great models of intonation and pronunciation of difficult words.

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The British wear paper crowns while they eat Christmas dinner. The tradition of wearing hats at parties goes back to the Roman Saturnalia celebrations (celebrated around the 25^th of December) when the participants also wore hats.

The idea of wearing a paper crown may have originated from Twelfth Night celebrations, where a King or Queen was appointed to look over the proceedings.

The paper crown hats they wear today are found inside the Christmas Crackers. Crackers are very traditional items to have at Christmas. A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper.

The cracker is pulled by two people and each one contains a small toy, a joke or motto, and a tissue-paper crown hat, usually a crown.

Poirot: The Perfect Murders: Omnibus

Please enjoy our “thank you” video, below, for all of our English teachers in Georgia and throughout the world.

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It falls on different dates each year, between January 21 and February 20. Visits to friends and family take place during this celebration. The color gold is said to bring wealth, and the color red is considered especially lucky. The New Year’s Eve dinner is very large and includes fish, noodles, and dumplings. Chinese New Year begins on February 19, 2015.

Christmas

Christmas is celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas in the United States brings together many customs from other countries and cultures. Around the world, family members help to decorate the tree and home with bright lights, wreaths, candles, holly, mistletoe, and ornaments. On Christmas Eve, many people go to church. Also on Christmas Eve, Santa comes from the North Pole in a sleigh to deliver gifts; in Hawaii, it is said he arrives by boat; in Australia, the jolly man arrives on water skis; and In Ghana, he comes out of the jungle.

Hanukkah

Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah, a holiday honoring the Maccabees victory over King Antiochus, who forbade Jews to practice their religion. For eight nights, Hanukkah is celebrated with prayer, the lighting of the menorah, and food. A menorah has nine candles, a candle for every night, plus a helper candle. Children play games, sing songs, and exchange gifts. Potato pancakes, known as latkes in Yiddish, are traditionally associated with Hanukkah and are served with applesauce and sour cream. This year Hanukkah starts the evening of Tuesday, December 16 and the last night is Wednesday, December 24.

Kwanzaa

On December 26, Kwanzaa is celebrated. It is a holiday to commemorate African heritage. Kwanzaa lasts a week during which participants gather with family and friends to exchange gifts and to light a series of black, red, and green candles, which symbolize the seven basic values of African American family life that are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

New Year’s Day

New Year’s Day is the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar on January 1. There are often fireworks at midnight to celebrate the new year. Commonly served in the southern part of the United States, black-eyed peas are thought to bring luck and prosperity for the new year, greens (usually collards) bring wealth, and pork because pigs root forward.

Three Kings Day

At the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas comes a day called the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day. This holiday is celebrated as the day the three wise men first saw baby Jesus and brought him gifts. On this day in Spain, many children get their Christmas presents. In Puerto Rico, before children go to sleep on January 5, they leave a box with hay under their beds so the kings will leave good presents. In France, a delicious “kings’ cake” known as La galette des rois is baked. Bakers hide a coin, jewel or little toy inside it.

Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice occurs Sunday, December 21 this year. It is the shortest day of the year. People all over the world participate with festivals and celebrations. Long ago, people celebrated by lighting bonfires and candles to coax back the sun.

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