#ESL Podcast 226 – Holiday Decorating##GLOSSARY**to decorate –** to make something more attractive by putting objects on it*The students are going to decorate the high school gym so that it looks like adance club for their dance on Friday night.**to go all out –** to put all of one’s energy and effort into doing something*She went all out during the race and finished in first place.**Christmas tree –** a pine tree (or a plastic tree) that people decorate and place intheir homes to celebrate Christmas*Please put all of the presents from your grandparents under the Christmas tree.**ornament –** a small object used for decoration, usually with a string for hangingon the branches of a Christmas tree*My favorite Christmas tree ornament is the blue glass ball that my daughtergave me three years ago.**tinsel –** narrow, thin strips of shiny material used for decoration*The children were supposed to put the tinsel on the Christmas tree, but theyhad more fun putting it in each other’s hair.**wreath –** a circle of flowers and leaves hung on a door or wall for decoration*Everyone who visits their house admires the beautiful Christmas wreathhanging on their front door.**mistletoe –** a plant with green leaves and white berries that is used asdecoration during the Christmas holiday*I’m hanging mistletoe above the doors because tradition says that if a man anda woman stand under the mistletoe, they have to kiss each other.**chimney –** a brick or rock structure that carries smoke from a fireplace, throughthe roof and outside of a house*When we lit the fire, the room started to fill with smoke because we hadforgotten to open the chimney.**stocking –** a very large, colorful sock that is hung near the chimney and filledwith presents the night before Christmas*Last year, Josiah made a giant stocking because he thought he would get morepresents that way.**holiday cards –** a piece of paper folded in half, with a picture on the front and amessage inside, sent to friends and family to wish them happy holidays*This year we are sending a photograph of the children inside our holiday cards,so that our family and friends can see how much they’ve grown since last year.**lawn ornaments –** statues and other objects placed on the grass in front of ahouse as decoration*Look at the lawn ornaments across the street! That family must be very excitedabout the holidays.**snowman –** snow shaped in the form of a person*Myung and Oscar made a snowman with cookies for eyes and a carrot for anose.**reindeer –** a large animal that looks like a deer with long antlers (horns that looklike tree branches) on its head that lives in the snow*According to Christmas stories and songs, Santa Claus uses flying reindeer tohelp him go from house to house, delivering Christmas presents.**Santa Claus –** an imaginary fat, jolly (cheerful) man with a white beard and redclothing who delivers Christmas presents to good boys and girls*Many children behave very well in December because their parents tell themthat Santa Claus will bring them presents only if they are good.**outdoor lights –** lines of multi-colored, white, or blue lights that are placed alongthe roofs, doors, and windows of houses as Christmas decorations*Some neighborhoods are famous for their outdoor lights at Christmas, andmany people drive by to see their decorations.**to string –** to hang decorations in a line*When we learned that Katie was pregnant, we celebrated by stringing pink andblue decorations all around the living room.**it’s no wonder that –** it isn’t surprising that*It’s no wonder that you passed the exam. You have been studying every nightfor almost two months!##COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1. Why is the family decorating the house?a) Because the house hasn’t been decorated for many years.b) Because this is how the family celebrates the holidays.c) Because Santa Claus visits only decorated houses.2. Where does the family put its holiday decorations?a) Only inside the house.b) Only outside of the house.c) Both inside and outside of the house.##WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?to decorateThe verb *“to decorate,”* in this podcast, means to make something moreattractive by putting objects on it. For example, “For their wedding, theydecorated the room with white, yellow, and gold fabric.” The verb *“to decorate”*can also mean to be placed on something to make it look more attractive:*“Paintings of kings and queens decorated the walls of the old castle.”* “Todecorate” can also mean to give someone a medal or another honor: “Thesoldier was decorated for his bravery in the battle.” A *“decorator”* is someonewhose job is to decorate homes: “We want to hire an interior decorator todecorate our dining room because we don’t think we can do a good job withoutprofessional help.”stockingsIn this podcast, the word *“stockings”* means very large, colorful socks that arehung near the chimney and filled with presents the night before Christmas. In apopular poem, *“The Night Before Christmas,”* the author wrote: “Stockings werehung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) soonwould be there.” The word *“stockings”* can also refer to a thin piece of clothingthat a woman wears over her feet and legs, such as nylons or tights. Forexample, “Do you think black or skin-colored stockings would look better with thisdress?” As a verb, *“to stock”* means to have a supply of goods to sell: “We needto stock more of those notebooks because they are selling very quickly.”##CULTURE NOTEIn the United States, many families celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Day bystringing outdoor lights around their houses. Although many non-Christianfamilies also do this, people of other religions may not. These strings of lightscan be all one color, or a mixture of red, blue, green, and yellow. The lights areusually strung along the roof, around doors and windows, and sometimes aroundtrees in the *“front lawn”* (the grass-covered area in front of a home). Sometimespeople use lawn ornaments that have lights, too. Popular lawn ornamentsinclude Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen, and stars. Other people prefer todisplay Christian lawn ornaments that relate to a *“nativity scene”* or a sceneshowing the birth of Jesus in the Christian religion, and includes the baby Jesusand his parents, Mary and Joseph.Some families compete with their neighbors to have the biggest or most beautiful*“lawn displays”* or the group of objects they place in front of their homes for otherpeople to see. For this reason, the best lawn displays are often found near oneanother and some neighborhoods become well known for their lawn displays.Often local newspapers provide lists of these neighborhoods so that people candrive through those neighborhoods at night to enjoy the lawn displays.Some cities and towns organize larger displays during the weeks beforeChristmas. During the day, they have holiday parades. At night, they often have*“light shows”* (moving, colorful lights decorating the lawn ornaments). The peoplewho come to these displays usually buy holiday food, such as Christmas cookiesand peppermint candy, and drinks, such as hot chocolate and *“apple cider”* (hotapple juice with cinnamon and other flavors). The money that cities earn fromthese sales is usually used for social projects.Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – c##COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to number 226: HolidayDecorating.This is episode 226. I'm your host, Dr.Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com. You can find there the LearningGuide for this episode, which contains all of the vocabulary words, definitions,sample sentences, additional cultural notes, explanations of words we that don'ttalk about on the podcast and a complete transcript of this episode.This podcast is about *“Holiday Decorating.”* Let's get started.[start of story]Now that the holidays are here, it’s time to decorate the house. Every year, wealways go all out. We buy a Christmas tree and the kids decorate it withornaments that we’ve bought and made over the years, and with silver and goldtinsel. We also hang a wreath on our front door and I make sure that there’smistletoe above every door. Around the chimney, we hang our stockings, andwhen we get holiday cards from our friends and neighbors, we put them allaround the room.Outside of the house, we have lawn ornaments that we put in the front yard.People who visit our house will see snowmen (and snowwomen), reindeer, andof course, Santa Claus. The best part is the outdoor lights. I string them acrossthe front of the house, around our trees, and in our fence. When I turn them allon, you can probably see our house from miles away. It’s no wonder that peoplecome from all over town just to see our house at night. I have to say that I enjoythe holiday season as much as the kids...and maybe just a little more![end of story]Our podcast is called *“Holiday Decorating.”* Holiday usually refers to Christmasand New Years and perhaps Chanukah, the Jewish celebration. This particularepisode is mostly about Christmas decorations, since that is probably the mostpopular holiday celebration, at least in the United States.The story begins by me saying that *“the holidays are here,”* meaning we are nowin the time of the holidays, and *“it's time to decorate the house.”* To decorate,*“decorate,”* means to make something more beautiful or more attractive, usuallyby putting objects - putting something on it, like your house or a tree. There areother meanings of this word to decorate that we discuss in the Learning Guide forthis episode.The story continues that *“Every year, we always go all out.”* That expression, togo all out, *“out,”* means to put all of your energy into something - that you aregoing to do something using the maximum amount of effort. In this case, goingall out means that we bought a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree is a large,usually green, tree that people buy.In many American cities, there are Christmas tree lots, *“lots.”* A lot is just anempty space, usually outside, that has, in this case, lots of Christmas trees andyou can go and buy them. You can't buy a Christmas tree, at least a real tree, ina store - in a regular store; you need to go to one of these temporary stores -these Christmas tree lots - to buy a tree. If you want an artificial tree - a treemade of plastic or metal - then you can get that at a store.Now, this is something I really don't have much experience with; we never had areal Christmas tree when I was growing up. But this is the story, and in the story,there's a Christmas tree. All the kids are going to decorate the tree withornaments. An ornament, *“ornament,”* is an object that you use to decorate.Ornaments are little things for a Christmas tree that you hang on the tree or puton the branches of the tree. Often, these ornaments are round and they have alittle piece of metal on top that you can hang it on the branch of the tree - thearms of the tree that come out.We've also bought some *“silver and gold tinsel.”* Tinsel, *“tinsel,”* is another one ofthose words that you usually only hear during the Christmas season. Tinsel is anarrow piece of a shiny material that's used for decoration. It's usually like a longstring, and the string has metal on it often, or something that is very shiny -something that reflects the light. And often, pieces of tinsel are different colors.In this case, they're silver and gold tinsel. It's traditional to have both Christmasornaments and tinsel on your Christmas tree.“We also hang a wreath on our front door and I make sure that there’s mistletoeabove every door.” A wreath, *“wreath,”* is a circle - a round thing - that is made oftree branches usually. It could also be made of flowers. And, it is somethingthat, in the United States, is often found on the door - outside door - of yourhouse during the Christmas season - during the time of Christmas.I remember when I was young boy, I was a member of the Boy Scouts, which isa voluntary organization of boys - to keep them from causing trouble, I think - andwe used to sell these Christmas wreaths in order to make money for the BoyScout organization. So, I have many memories of going and selling Christmaswreaths.In addition to a Christmas wreath in the story, there's also mistletoe. Mistletoe,*“mistletoe,”* (one word) is a special plant that has green leaves and little whitewhat we would call berries - little round things. And, this little plant, or a piece ofa plant, is used in Christmas; it is often hung up on the top of a door. Now, thetradition is that if you are standing under a mistletoe with someone else, you aresupposed to kiss that person. The other person, you hope, wants to kiss you aswell. If not, then in addition to a kiss, you will also get a black eye when they hityou, especially if you're a man trying to kiss a woman. Well, that's been myexperience!The story continues by saying that *“Around the chimney, we hang our stockings.”*The chimney, *“chimney,”* is a brick or rock part of the house. It is connected tosomething called a fireplace, *“fireplace.”* A fireplace is where you burn woodinside a house to keep it warm.Many houses, now, don't have fireplaces; my house doesn't have a fireplace, butolder houses or houses of rich people sometimes have these old fireplaces. Ifyou burn wood, you will have smoke, and so you need to take the smoke out ofthe room, and you do that through the chimney. It's a long, narrow part of thehouse. On the top of the chimney is at the top of the house, and that's where thesmoke goes outside.Traditionally, Santa Claus, when he comes to visit, will land on the top of yourhouse - the roof of your house - and then come down the chimney. That's whyhis clothes always get dirty, because he's climbing in those chimneys!Well, *“Around the chimney,”* - around the fireplace - *“we hang our stockings.”*Stockings, *“stockings,”* are large, usually very colorful socks. They're big socks,not real socks that you would put on your feet. But, they are large socks that arefilled with presents on the night before Christmas. Again traditionally, you putthings in the stockings - a parent would put gifts in stockings for their children.In my house, growing up, we had a stocking for everyone in the house, whichmeans we had 13 stockings. So, it was sort of like walking into our house and itlooked like my mother was drying the clothes because we had so many of thesestockings!The things you put in a stocking - the gifts - are usually small gifts. They'resometimes called stocking stuffers, *“stuffers.”* To stuff means to put somethinginto something else; that's what you do with a stocking stuffer, a small gift.Another tradition is the holiday card or the Christmas card. These are cards thatpeople send each other. We may also call them greeting cards. The cards havea picture of something related to Christmas - a Christmas tree or perhaps SantaClaus - and you write notes in to your friends and family and wish them a MerryChristmas.You can also make your own cards. Some families make cards with pictures oftheir children and send them to you. It was very popular, and still is in somefamilies, to send out a Christmas letter, where you would describe to your friendsand family everything you did or all the most important things that happened toyou in the past year. These are always very entertaining to get. I supposenowadays you could just have a blog and you wouldn't need to send anyone aletter.The story goes on to say that “Outside of the house, we have lawn ornamentsthat we put in the front yard.” The lawn, *“lawn,”* is the - is the area of grass infront of the house. There's also, often, a lawn in the back of your house. Lawnornaments are figures - objects - statues - that you put in front of your house thatare about Christmas or related to Christmas. Some of these ornaments orstatues are of snowmen. Snowmen are made of snow - round balls of snow - tolook like a man. Usually three balls of snow: one large one, one medium oneand one small one. The small one is the head. There's also lawn ornaments thatlook like reindeers. A reindeer, *“reindeer,”* is the animal, which according totradition, is part of Santa Claus' transportation. And of course, Santa Claushimself.*“The best part,”* I say in the story, *“is the outdoor lights.”* It's become very popularin the United States to put Christmas lights on the outside of your house. Notjust one or two strings of lights, we would call them, but hundreds and hundredsof lights, very sophisticated, complicated sets of lights with different colors. Thishas almost become a competition in some cities, where people try to have themost complicated or most beautiful set of outdoor lights. This is not somethingthat I do, ever, but it is interesting to see because at night you can drive by thehouse and it looks very beautiful with all of these lights on it.The verb that we use is to string. When we say we're going to string lights, wemean we're going to hang them in a line. The lights usually come on somethinglike a long rope, and there are lots of lights in a straight line and you can stringthose, or put those, in the front of your house.I say at the end that “It’s no wonder that people come from all over town just tosee our house at night.” It's no wonder is an expression that means it isn'tsurprising - it's logical - it would be expected that people would come from allover town.Now let's listen to the story, this time at a native rate of speech.[start of story]Now that the holidays are here, it’s time to decorate the house. Every year, wealways go all out. We buy a Christmas tree and the kids decorate it withornaments that we’ve bought and made over the years, and with silver and goldtinsel. We also hang a wreath on our front door and I make sure that there’smistletoe above every door. Around the chimney, we hang our stockings, andwhen we get holiday cards from our friends and neighbors, we put them allaround the room.Outside of the house, we have lawn ornaments that we put in the front yard.People who visit our house will see snowmen (and snowwomen), reindeer, andof course, Santa Claus. The best part is the outdoor lights. I string them acrossthe front of the house, around our trees, and in our fence. When I turn them allon, you can probably see our house from miles away. It’s no wonder that peoplecome from all over town just to see our house at night. I have to say that I enjoythe holiday season as much as the kids...and maybe just a little more![end of story]The script for today's podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse.That's all we have time for today. From Los Angeles, California, I'm JeffMcQuillan. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast. is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.

Ver todos los episodios