#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 a

dance 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 in

their 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 hanging

on the branches of a Christmas tree

*My favorite Christmas tree ornament is the blue glass ball that my daughter

gave 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 they

had 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 wreath

hanging on their front door.

**mistletoe –** a plant with green leaves and white berries that is used as

decoration during the Christmas holiday

*I’m hanging mistletoe above the doors because tradition says that if a man and

a woman stand under the mistletoe, they have to kiss each other.

**chimney –** a brick or rock structure that carries smoke from a fireplace, through

the roof and outside of a house

*When we lit the fire, the room started to fill with smoke because we had

forgotten to open the chimney.

**stocking –** a very large, colorful sock that is hung near the chimney and filled

with presents the night before Christmas

*Last year, Josiah made a giant stocking because he thought he would get more

presents that way.

**holiday cards –** a piece of paper folded in half, with a picture on the front and a

message 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 a

house as decoration

*Look at the lawn ornaments across the street! That family must be very excited

about 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 a

nose.

**reindeer –** a large animal that looks like a deer with long antlers (horns that look

like tree branches) on its head that lives in the snow

*According to Christmas stories and songs, Santa Claus uses flying reindeer to

help him go from house to house, delivering Christmas presents.

**Santa Claus –** an imaginary fat, jolly (cheerful) man with a white beard and red

clothing who delivers Christmas presents to good boys and girls

*Many children behave very well in December because their parents tell them

that Santa Claus will bring them presents only if they are good.

**outdoor lights –** lines of multi-colored, white, or blue lights that are placed along

the roofs, doors, and windows of houses as Christmas decorations

*Some neighborhoods are famous for their outdoor lights at Christmas, and

many 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 and

blue 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 night

for almost two months!

##COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. 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 decorate

The verb *“to decorate,”* in this podcast, means to make something more

attractive by putting objects on it. For example, “For their wedding, they

decorated 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.”* “To

decorate” can also mean to give someone a medal or another honor: “The

soldier was decorated for his bravery in the battle.” A *“decorator”* is someone

whose job is to decorate homes: “We want to hire an interior decorator to

decorate our dining room because we don’t think we can do a good job without

professional help.”

stockings

In this podcast, the word *“stockings”* means very large, colorful socks that are

hung near the chimney and filled with presents the night before Christmas. In a

popular poem, *“The Night Before Christmas,”* the author wrote: “Stockings were

hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) soon

would be there.” The word *“stockings”* can also refer to a thin piece of clothing

that a woman wears over her feet and legs, such as nylons or tights. For

example, “Do you think black or skin-colored stockings would look better with this

dress?” As a verb, *“to stock”* means to have a supply of goods to sell: “We need

to stock more of those notebooks because they are selling very quickly.”

##CULTURE NOTE

In the United States, many families celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Day by

stringing outdoor lights around their houses. Although many non-Christian

families also do this, people of other religions may not. These strings of lights

can be all one color, or a mixture of red, blue, green, and yellow. The lights are

usually strung along the roof, around doors and windows, and sometimes around

trees in the *“front lawn”* (the grass-covered area in front of a home). Sometimes

people use lawn ornaments that have lights, too. Popular lawn ornaments

include Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen, and stars. Other people prefer to

display Christian lawn ornaments that relate to a *“nativity scene”* or a scene

showing the birth of Jesus in the Christian religion, and includes the baby Jesus

and 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 other

people to see. For this reason, the best lawn displays are often found near one

another and some neighborhoods become well known for their lawn displays.

Often local newspapers provide lists of these neighborhoods so that people can

drive through those neighborhoods at night to enjoy the lawn displays.

Some cities and towns organize larger displays during the weeks before

Christmas. During the day, they have holiday parades. At night, they often have

*“light shows”* (moving, colorful lights decorating the lawn ornaments). The people

who come to these displays usually buy holiday food, such as Christmas cookies

and peppermint candy, and drinks, such as hot chocolate and *“apple cider”* (hot

apple juice with cinnamon and other flavors). The money that cities earn from

these sales is usually used for social projects.

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – c

##COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to number 226: Holiday

Decorating.

This is episode 226. I'm your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in

beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com. You can find there the Learning

Guide for this episode, which contains all of the vocabulary words, definitions,

sample sentences, additional cultural notes, explanations of words we that don't

talk 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, we

always go all out. We buy a Christmas tree and the kids decorate it with

ornaments that we’ve bought and made over the years, and with silver and gold

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