Life around the world

Friday, 7 November, 2014 - 16:12

That Christmas feeling

by JulieG

Now that Halloween has been and gone, we can start getting excited about Christmas! Or can we?

In England I am used to seeing Christmas decorations in the shops as soon as they have put away the zombie costumes and freaky sweets. Sometimes even before! Some people say this is too early to get into the Christmas spirit but I like the excitement that builds up to the big day and really, you need all that time to buy the many presents for your family and friends, unless you buy them all on Christmas Eve which is a bit crazy in my opinion!

Although it doesn’t feel very "Christmassy" in Italy at the moment, I am already excited about going back to England and doing some of the following things:

Eating mince pies
Mince pies are small , sweet pastry filled with a mixture of dried fruits and sugar. You can only buy them at Christmas so have to eat as many as you can!

Drinking “Christmas” flavoured coffees
Coffee shops like Starbucks and Costa serve special flavours like Gingerbread and Cream lattes and Orange hot chocolates.  They also make special cups for the occasion. Last year I collected a Snowman, Father Christmas and a Gingerbread man cup.

Opening an advent calendar
The best way to count down until Christmas because you get to eat a chocolate every day of December until Christmas Eve.

Munching on tins of chocolate
In England around Christmas time you can buy huge tins of chocolates, individually wrapped with different flavours and some being mini-versions of normal sized chocolate bars. It's very hard to only eat one or two!

Watching Christmas adverts
Companies like Coca-Cola and John Lewis (a British department store) bring out special adverts for Christmas. These have become so famous that when you see the red Coca-Cola truck driving around on T.V, that’s when you know Christmas has begun.  The song from the 2013 John Lewis advert even became  number 1 in the UK charts!

Listening to Christmas songs
Hearing Christmas songs on the radio really puts me in the mood for Christmas, especially “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues which is my favourite!

These things maybe small, but for me, this is what makes it feel like Christmas!

Discussion

What makes it feel like Christmas for you? Do you think November is too early to start thinking about Christmas?

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