Nutshell English

Ready to celebrate? People in the Anglosphere mostly have to wait until tomorrow, but most of Europe is getting ready for Christmas Eve supper tonight — so let’s join them! 🥳
Merry Christmas! 🎄

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 🔟
Today I have a game for you! 😜
Here is a list of jumbled Christmas traditions – some from the UK, some from Poland. Can you sort them out?
· Hay under the Tablecloth – Symbolizes the manger where Jesus was born.
· Empty Seat at the Table – Set for unexpected guests or absent family members.
· Pulling Christmas Crackers at the Table – Crackers are decorative paper tubes that “crack” when pulled, revealing a small toy, a joke, and a paper crown. Usually, everyone pulls crackers together during Christmas dinner.
· Sharing the Christmas Wafer – Each person breaks a piece with every other person at the table, exchanging good wishes.
· Flaming Christmas Pudding – Brandy is poured over the pudding, which is then set alight at the table.
· A Coin in the Pudding – The person who finds the coin will have a year of good luck.
· Twelve Dishes on the Christmas Table – Representing the twelve apostles.
· Cookies and Carrots for Santa – Children leave cookies (and sometimes a drink) for Santa, plus carrots for his reindeer. By the next day, they’ve usually disappeared!
· Christmas Wafer for Domestic Animals – Horses, cows, dogs, and other household animals are given leftovers from the Christmas table and pieces of the wafer to protect them from disease.
· Boxing Day (26th December) – Traditionally a day for giving gifts to service workers and the poor.
Easy, wasn’t it? 🤓

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 6️⃣
How many Christmas carols (=songs) do you know? We have a rich tradition of carolling in Poland, but carols are sung in every language, including English.
I am sure you know Silent Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_ES6YdXrOc - not strictly British, because the original is in German, but still very popular.
You might also recognize Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slOBjPXqDDM ("hark" means "listen")
or Joy To The World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgAZVgfUxcg
But apart from these strictly religious carols, there is a rich selection of classic Christmas songs. And I don't even mean titles like Last Christmas (I Gave You My Heart ❤️), (I'm Dreaming of a) White Christmas ❄️ or All I Want for Christmas 🎁 (Is You), but such traditional songs such as Jingle Bells 🔔, We Wish You a Merry Christmas☃️(and a Happy New Year), or my favourites:
Deck the Halls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPCXMTnO2Yw Fa La La La La, La La La 🎼 😄
and The Twelve Days of Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsiFj5LPOZ4
I challenge you to learn it by heart and sing 🎤it in the car at Christmas time like I do - I always get it wrong... 😂

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN – DAY 2️⃣
🎄 Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree! — do you know the song? 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qPPev3QJ4E

If you thought this has been a Slavic tradition from times immemorial — wrong again 😉
We actually adopted it from the Germans - or partly even from the English after they adopted it from the Germans... ;)
Prince Albert is the one generally credited with introducing the Christmas tree, together with other German Christmas customs to the British royal court, from which it spread through the rest of the country... and the world.

And no wonder — after all, who doesn’t like a Christmas tree? 🎄🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxYq82AFox8