“叮叮当,叮叮当, 铃儿响叮当……”又到了一年一度的圣诞节啦！大家走在街上有没有看到各种圣诞节装饰和圣诞树呢？每年的圣诞节虎虎都很开心呢！西方的圣诞节究和我们认为的有啥不同呢？虎虎特地请教了偶们的美女外教Alison（戳我去看美女外教的主页 >>）来谈谈美国人是咋过圣诞节的，下面拿来和大家一起分享！点我进入沪江外教Alison老师的口语节目>>

The Beginning of Christmas

The origins of Christmas can be found in the name: Christmas is a religious holiday which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In the Christian religion, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is believed to have been born in a cattle stall because there were no open rooms in any of the inns. He was born to a virgin woman named Mary and a man named Joseph, and it is believed that an angel brought shepherds and kings from afar to see the newborn boy, telling them that he was the Son of God. However, nowadays Christmas is not only celebrated by Christians. For many people, celebrating Christ’s birth is only one part of the holiday.

圣诞节是基督教世界最大的节日。其实圣诞节是基督徒庆祝耶稣基督诞生哒。关于耶稣基督诞生的故事大家了解吗？虎虎偶来说下吧。耶稣基督是因着圣灵成孕，由童女马利亚所生的。当马利亚快要临盆的时候，罗马政府下了命令，全部人民到伯利恒务必申报户籍。约瑟和马利亚只好遵命。他们到达伯利恒时，天色已昏，无奈两人未能找到旅馆渡宿，只有一个马棚可以暫住。就在這时，耶稣要出生了！於是马利亚唯有在马槽上，生下耶稣。介个就是经典的耶稣基督出生故事！（撒花~）

Alison告诉虎虎在很小的时候她就知道了圣诞节是为了纪念耶稣诞生。在美国，大家非常重视这个节日，虽然圣诞节一开始是为了纪念耶稣诞生，但是如今这个节日的意义已经不只如此啦，这是一个大家狂欢的日子！
 

Celebrating Christmas

Christmas is all about spending time with the people you love. There are far too many Christmas traditions to list in one program, so I will tell you about the ones I grew up with.

At Church

Churches have many events before Christmas, such as Angel Trees and Christmas Pageants. An Angel Tree invites people who may need some extra help during the holidays to hang “wishes” on the tree, telling others what they would like for Christmas, such as clothing or books. Other people can then take that wish off of the tree, buy the present, wrap it up and put it under the tree. A Christmas Pageant is where members of the church get together to rehearse and perform a Christmas play or musical for the church. There are always costumes and songs and usually a few hilarious speaking errors! On Christmas Eve, or the night before Christmas, there is a special church service. All of the lights in the church are turned off, and everyone is given a candle to hold as we listen to the Christmas story and sing our favorite Christmas hymns.

教堂会有非常非常多的圣诞活动，主要是和歌声联系在一起的，它的另一个名字就叫做“圣乐崇拜会”。 会有唱诗班献唱，祷告、感谢和一些圣诞故事剧。到了圣诞节虎虎最稀饭去教堂了，大家一起唱歌神马的很开心的，而且教堂都会装饰得灰常漂亮！另外呢，一些圣诗班会挨门挨户地在门口或窗下唱圣诞颂歌（caroling），叫作“报佳音”。那时候大街小巷满城尽是歌声。

大家都知道圣诞树（Christmas tree），Alison告诉虎虎还有Angle tree，没有钱买的得起圣诞礼物的人们会把自己的愿望写在纸上，然后挂在树上。你可以去摘下纸片，根据上面的愿望给他们买礼物然后挂在树上。很有爱吧^^

With the Family

After the service, some families head home to open the presents that have been waiting under the tree. In my family, we wait to open our presents until Christmas morning. When Christmas morning comes, we are up at the crack of dawn to open presents, eat breakfast and hop in the car to head to my grandma’s house. All of my extended family gathers at my grandma’s house for a big meal and a couple days of relaxing.

圣诞节是和家人团聚的重要节日！大家会守候在圣诞树下打开送给彼此的礼物。Alison家的习惯是在圣诞节早晨打开礼物，一家人围坐在一起吃早餐然后去奶奶家。所有的亲戚这时都会聚在一起。很开心呀~虎虎觉得西方的圣诞节就像我们的春节！

At University

One of my favorite memories of university is all of the Christmas parties I had with my friends. Almost every organization, company and social group organizes Christmas parties (that’s why most people gain 10 pounds over the holidays!). Some parties have gift exchanges, where people bring a wrapped present to exchange in some sort of game. “Secret Santa” gift exchanges are also fun; that’s where you put everyone’s name in a box and have people secretly draw out a name. Then, when they bring a present to the party for that person, the person has to “guess” who his Secret Santa is.

虎虎问Alison大学里有什么活动呢？她表示太多啦！有学校、院系，社团、朋友间的各种派对！那时候会非常非常忙碌。这些圣诞聚会和舞会都是在圣诞节前几周举行。她告诉虎虎，派对上很重要的一个节目就是交换礼物哦！除了一般的礼物交换还有“Secret Santa ”gift exchange（大家匿名买礼物交换），“White Elephant“ gift exchange（送搞笑逗乐的礼物）等。