#36- 15 Words to Know for Christmas

Hi there! Welcome to episode #36 of The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast!

In this episode, you'll be learning 15 popular slang words, phrasal verbs, and idioms all about Christmas celebrations and traditions! In American culture, we celebrate Christmas all month long and we have many fun activities that generally happen along the way.  This is why it's so important that you learn vocabulary for Christmas celebrations and traditions. After listening to this episode and using this Study Guide, you’ll be able to speak about Christmas in the USA with CONFIDENCE and be one step closer to speaking English like a native speaker.

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The Study Guide includes: 

• All words and definitions
• Example sentences
• Practice Activities
• Transcript

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Merry Christmas! On today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast, I'll be teaching you 15 slang words, phrasal verbs, and idioms for celebrating Christmas. You'll be learning words like caroling, decked out in, jolly, trim the tree, and more. Let's get started.

Hey there, welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.

Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in.

Hello, Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate, and even to those who don't. Welcome to episode number [00:01:00] 36. Here in the USA, we are in the middle of the biggest holiday in the US and one of the biggest holidays around the world. Here in New York City, we love Christmas. This is one of the most famous cities to visit during the holidays because there is so much here. Everywhere you go, there are Christmas decorations on the houses, there's Christmas music blasting in every store, and people are hustling everywhere to finish up their Christmas shopping. It's a very busy time of year.

Here in New York City, it's actually really crazy. I just saw a report that said we're gonna get 8 million people during the holiday season from Thanksgiving till the New Year, which means that New York City is going to double its [00:02:00] population. Isn't that crazy?

You know, we love tourism. We're always thankful for the money that we get from tourists, and we love having that cultural diversity and flavor, but it has become almost impossible for native New Yorkers to do holiday activities. Like, I have not been to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree yet, and I probably won't make it until maybe a week after Christmas. Everything is just jam-packed.

If you want to see what I mean, go to Instagram and search Rockefeller Center crowds, or look at the New York Instagram accounts. They all have crazy videos of just how crowded it is. But I have to say, it's still one of the most beautiful places that you can celebrate Christmas. It's just really cool, really fun, and really cold.

In the last episode, I talked about how cold it was. Oh my goodness. It's even colder. [00:03:00] Today was the coldest day, and yesterday was also very cold. So let me tell you some of these temperatures. Those of you who live in warm sunny places are going to die when I tell you this.

Right now, it is negative 8 Celsius. Okay? Overnight it's going to be negative 10 Celsius. Now, that's not even the worst part. The wind chill here is negative 14. It feels like negative 14. It doesn't normally get this cold until January, so we're all dying here because we just want to celebrate Christmas in peace. We just want to go outside and look at all the pretty Christmas decorations, and we can't because it's cold.

We did not go out today. We have been hiding in our apartment. But anyway, [00:04:00] Christmas time is thought to be a very happy time because we spend it with family and friends. But you know, for a lot of people, it's a very lonely time of year. For some people, it's a sad time of year. Some people are mourning their first Christmas without a family member or a friend. Some people are experiencing difficult times, so however it is that you are celebrating this season or not celebrating, I hope that you can find some joy in this season.

Here in the USA, Christmas is not really considered a Christian holiday. Even though the origins are Christian, because we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, all types of people celebrate Christmas. People from different religions celebrate. And then also people who have no religion. People who are atheists—they don't even believe in [00:05:00] God—they also celebrate because it's very much a time with family and friends. So it's a really popular holiday here.

All right, today's episode is going to be a little shorter because it's Christmas, and I know that everybody's busy spending time with family. But before we get into the main part of the episode, I just want to remind you that there is a study guide waiting for you that has all the things you need to review this episode and practice what you learned.

The goal is always that you can use the words that you learn in these podcast episodes. And the best way to do that is with the study guide. To get the link, just head to the episode description and click the link. Then you will be sent the link that you can use forever because all you have to do each week is visit the folder and find the study guide.

In this [00:06:00] episode, I'm teaching you 15 phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms, and this is all vocabulary that you'll hear around the Christmas season.

Let me read you the list: put up, trim the tree, tis the season, a white Christmas, Santa's little helper, caroling (or a carol), spread holiday cheer, a grinch, take down, ugly sweater contest, decked out in, no room at the inn, under the mistletoe, a Hallmark movie, and jolly.

Now I'm going to read you a story that has all of the 15 words I just mentioned in real-world context. As I read the story, try and listen to the [00:07:00] words to see if you can figure out the meanings of these words as you listen to them being used in context.

Here we go:

Maria's family was getting ready to put up the last of their Christmas decorations. The living room was already beautifully decorated with lights, and now it was time to trim the tree with shiny ornaments and a star on top. "Tis the season to make everything festive," Maria said.

Outside, snow was falling heavily. It looked like they might have a white Christmas after all. Maria's little brother Miguel was busy being Santa's little helper, wrapping presents and adding bows.

That evening, their neighbor, Mrs. Jenkins, knocked on the door.

"Would you like to go caroling with us?" she asked. [00:08:00] Maria agreed, even though she was really nervous about singing in front of people. They sang a beautiful carol about peace and joy, which really helped spread holiday cheer throughout their neighborhood.

They were most excited to sing for their neighbor who was known as the neighborhood grinch. He had a reputation for complaining about all of the Christmas decorations every year, and he usually wouldn't stop complaining until everyone in the neighborhood had taken down their decorations.

Afterwards, Maria stopped by her friend Jack's house. Jack's family was hosting their famous annual ugly sweater competition. When they opened the door for her, Jack said, "Sorry Maria, no room at the inn—you have to go home."

Thankfully, he was just joking and quickly welcomed her in.

It was so awesome seeing everyone decked out in their [00:09:00] ugly Christmas sweaters. Jack's sweater had blinking lights and a picture of a reindeer wearing sunglasses. It was so bad that it was good. Maria thought her own sweater was plain in comparison, but everyone laughed and had fun together.

Later that night, when Maria got home, her parents were standing under the mistletoe, laughing and sharing a kiss.

"Gross," said Maria, pretending to cover her eyes. But Maria actually thought it was very sweet to see her parents doing that.

Towards the end of the night, after dinner, Maria and her family sat together to watch a Hallmark movie about love, laughter, and family.

"This was such a jolly day," her dad said. "I think this Christmas will be one to remember."

Maria nodded, knowing that the best part of the season was spending it with people she loved.

The end.

[00:10:00] So, in the story, you got to hear a little bit about how many Americans celebrate the Christmas season. Because, you know, for us, the Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving. It starts on Black Friday, and we do Christmas parties and activities all month long. We do them in schools. We do them at work. We do everything. Every job has a holiday Christmas party. Every school, every job has pajama day, Christmas movie day, reindeer day. We have it all here.

Now that you heard the words being used in the story, let's go over their definitions.

Alright, the first vocabulary word that you hear in the story is a phrasal verb, put up. Put up means to hang or display something, or display decorations because of a [00:11:00] celebration. You can say, "Put up art on the wall," or, "Put up a poster." But we typically use put up for decorations.

We can also say hang up, implying that something is hanging, but we use put up often. For example: "We always put up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving." Now we're going to skip ahead a little bit and go to the opposite of put up. If I were the creator of English, okay, if I were one of the people constantly creating new words and things like that, I would have made it so that put down was the opposite of put up. But, no, English does not work that way. Unfortunately, many times, English is just not logical, and this is one of those situations. So, we cannot say put up and put down. [00:12:00] Instead, we say put up and take down.

Take down means to remove something from a high place. "Hey, take down the wall clock. Take down the curtains. Take down the Christmas decorations because it's January." So, again, in the context of decorating, put up and take down are opposites.

Next up, we have trim the tree. Now, this one is a little strange because the word trim here is being used in a totally different context. Firstly, the word trim usually means to cut a little bit. For example, if you go to the hair salon and tell the stylist to trim your hair, they're just cutting off a little bit of [00:13:00] it.

But here, trimming the tree means to decorate. Now, yes, sometimes when you decorate a Christmas tree, you trim the leaves a little bit. So, maybe that's where the origin comes from—that you actually are trimming it. But then you're also adding ornaments, adding lights, and other possible decorations. "We all helped our grandmother trim the tree before dessert."

Next up, we have the expression ’tis the season. Okay, now, in American English, we say ’tis a lot—T-I-S, ’tis. ’Tis is short for "it is." So, "It's the season" becomes "’Tis the season." This refers to how festive, how bright, this time of year is. So, if someone says, "Ugh, I'm so tired from shopping all day," you might respond, "’Tis the [00:14:00] season." It's the season—it's Christmas.

Next up, we have a white Christmas. This is the dream of every American child and some American adults. A white Christmas, maybe you guessed it, is a Christmas when there is snow. Technically speaking, it's when the snow sticks or the snow is on the ground. But some people consider it to be a white Christmas just if it's snowing, even if it's not sticking. For example, "We're hoping for a white Christmas this year."

Next up, we have Santa's little helper. Santa's little helper is a playful and fun term or nickname for someone who helps with a lot of Christmas tasks. So, think wrapping presents, decorating, simple jobs like that. "Miguel was Santa's little [00:15:00] helper, wrapping all the gifts for the family."

Next up, we have the verb caroling, or the noun a carol. Caroling is singing Christmas songs, or what we call hymns, in a group setting. A carol, or a Christmas carol, is one of the songs. For example, "Jingle Bells is a very popular Christmas carol." "We went caroling around the neighborhood, singing classic Christmas carols."

Next up, we have the expression to spread holiday cheer. Okay, so first of all, cheer, cheerful, to cheer up, usually has to do with the word happy. So, holiday cheer is holiday happiness. In this context, cheer represents joy, happiness, love, and kindness. So, to spread holiday cheer [00:16:00] is to bring joy and happiness to other people. For example: "During the Christmas season, singing carols is a great way to spread holiday cheer."

Next up, we have a grinch. This is a noun, and many of you listening will recognize the word Grinch from Santa Claus movies and from The Grinch movie. But here, a Grinch is a little bit metaphorical. A Grinch is a person who dislikes Christmas or spoils the holiday mood for others. "Don't be such a Grinch. Please come to the Christmas party. It'll be fun."

Next up, we have an ugly sweater contest, or ugly sweater competition. An ugly sweater competition is a fun contest where people wear really ugly [00:17:00] clothes. But very specifically, the type of clothes that people wear are ugly sweaters. Now, when we say ugly, we mean that it's kind of embarrassing to wear these outside because they're brightly colored or what we call tacky—just ugly with no style at all. And whoever makes the ugliest Christmas sweater wins the competition. "The office held an ugly sweater contest, and I won third place."

Next up, we have a three-word phrasal verb, decked out in. To be decked out in something means to be fully dressed, or fully decorated, with something festive, fancy, out of the norm. For example: "The house was decked out in lights and garlands."

You can use "decked out" for people, too. If somebody has a nice dress or a nice holiday outfit, specifically for a special occasion, we say, "Wow, look at you all decked out," or "decked out in [00:18:00] Versace," or something like that. "Their house was decked out in lights for the Christmas party."

Next up, we have the expression no room at the inn. This is a funny and comical phrase referring to the Bible story of Mary and Joseph not having a place to stay for Jesus' birth. But we use it in a playful way, meaning no space. So, when you hear people say, "Oh, no room at the inn," it means, "Oh, we're not welcome here; there's no space." "We arrived late and found there was no room at the inn."

Next up, we have the expression under the mistletoe. This is in so many pop songs, and I'm sure you've heard it once or twice, or at least you will hear [00:19:00] it moving forward. Under the mistletoe means that you're standing beneath a plant—specifically, the plant mistletoe. This is traditionally a place where people kiss during the Christmas season. "They shared a kiss under the mistletoe at the party."

Next, we have a Hallmark movie. A Hallmark movie is a feel-good movie that is cheesy and corny, and it's often about people falling in love during the holiday season. The reason why it's called a Hallmark movie is because the channel that it's shown on—the station—is named Hallmark. Hallmark has a reputation for showing these kinds of cheesy romance movies.

You may recognize the company Hallmark. They're a very famous holiday card company. They started a channel that has [00:20:00] these really happy romance movies that people love to watch over the holidays because they're what we call feel-good movies, and they have happy endings.

We joke a lot about Hallmark movies because they all have the same plot with different actors. Like, two people meet or rekindle their relationship from the past. Even though we all make fun of Hallmark movies, we really love them because they represent holiday joy. We watched a Hallmark movie to celebrate the New Year.

And lastly, we have the adjective jolly. Jolly means cheerful, full of happiness, extremely happy. Everyone was so jolly after the Christmas party last year.

Well, I hope while I was reading the story and while I was giving the examples and talking about the new words, I hope that you were able to visualize or see in your mind what it looks like [00:21:00] to celebrate the week of Christmas.

Now that you’ve learned some new Christmas-related words, hopefully, you get the opportunity to use them no matter how you're celebrating Christmas.

Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.

Thanks so much for tuning in.