娱乐活动英语作文80词（精品20篇）

Good morning，my dear teachers and schoolmates，It’s a great honor for me to make a speech on behalf of the graduating classes.

How time flies! Our junior high school lives will come to an end.In the past three years， we’ve had a beautiful school and it provides us with a good study place. Teachers are our friends. They’ve given us interesting lessons and we all love them.

We’ve learned a lot from them， not only knowledge but also the way to solve problems in life. Thanks for our teachers’ training， parents’ support and the help from classmates. Without them， we couldn’t have so much wonderful time.

At last， we hope our school will become better， our teachers will be healthy for ever and all our dreams will come true.Thank you for listening.

在春光明媚的星期五，我们学校举行了一年一度的英语节活动。

同学们兴高采烈的拿着要卖的书到操场上去。我也带上了自己精心准备的《安妮日记》。刚到操场，我就被这热闹的气氛吸引住了。安静的操场一下子变成了熙熙攘攘的大市场。

因为是英语节，老师让我们尽量用英语沟通。小朋友向我们奔来，可是他们只看一眼我们的书，就急匆匆的去看其他班的玩具了。好像是他们喜欢的玩具要被别人抢走了似的。看来爱玩是孩子的天性，玩具的吸引力比书大呀。这时，我们就像热锅上的蚂蚁，拼命地喊着“comehere，comehere！”尽管我卖力的喊着，小朋友还是不肯光顾我们的书摊。张老师看着我们心急如焚的样子，只好说：“要是实在没有人买，那就互相卖吧。”我对着同学们喊着：canIhelpyou？canIhelpyou？我把书的价格降低后，终于卖出去了。同学们也都买到了自己喜欢的书籍。

英语节活动不但锻炼了我的英语口语能力，也让我明白了卖东西不是我想象的那么简单，也是需要学习的。我喜欢英语节！

Dear Mike,

How are you doing these days?

Aimed at providing a platform where students can have a chance to exchange and make use of their books, the annual campus book fair will soon be held in our school. The fair will attract a huge crowd from the entire school, who are to sell, purchase and exchange their second-hand books with their peers.

As a regular visitor, I’ve found myself increasingly attracted by the fair. For one thing, the fair exhibits books of hundreds of types on diverse topics, motivating us to further develop our reading habits and help to broaden our horizons. For another, most books are sold at a lower price than what the bookstores offer.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions on how to host such a book fair better.

Yours,

Li Hua

何谓机器人？答案一定各不相同吧！在我原来的心目中，它微不足道，只不过是小毛孩的玩意儿，更没有什么稀奇之处可言，但通过我们牛通社组织的这次参观机器人活动，我真为我这个井底之蛙而感到汗颜啊！杭州科技交流馆里，早已聚满了看展出的人，我亦迫不及待地挤进人群，来他个一睹为快。

展厅里有会搬运排爆探险的工作机器人；有扫地辨认报警的家政机器人；有唱歌跳舞聊天的娱乐机器人；还有打拳赛跑投篮的运动机器人，真可谓应有尽有。快看快看，那不是我们国家研制成功，这次在世博会上大展身手的海宝智能机器人吗？呵呵！原来这款机器人已是改良版了，他摇身一变，成了一款创新型的家庭娱乐机器人，它有着可爱的外形、丰富的表情、敏锐的触觉、还会跳优美的舞蹈，它居然还是个语言专家，能纠正不准确的普通话和英语口语发音；神奇的还不止于此，它还具有拍照、播放相册音乐和视频等等功能，真是太太太牛了！

说来有趣，今天我这位小记者还接受了一位大记者叔叔的采访，这位浙江科技报的记者叔叔问我：“这次活动举办的有没有意义？你认为大商场卖的玩具和这里展出的机器人有什么不同？”我也侃侃而谈，首先肯定了这次活动给我带来的震撼和收获。于是又谈了我对这次活动的浅见 ，当然也希望我们杭州能多多举办一些这样有意义的活动，让我们青少年在大开眼界的同时，能从中长见识，一起去分享这些科学家为我们带来的新鲜血液。

想对这次的机器人展出有更深地了解吗？那么还等什么呢，一起去杭州科技交流馆参与一把吧！相信你一定会和我一样，有不小的收获。

My school encourages students to take part in out-of-class activities. After a busy day, it can help us to relax and build a healthy body. We usually take part in out-of-class activities on the playground. Some students play basketball, football and badminton. Some play Ping-Pong or swim. Besides, some students read books in the library. They think reading is also a good way to relax. As for me, I like running and reading.

我的学校鼓励学生参加课外活动。忙碌了一天，它能够帮助我们放松和锻炼身体。我经常在操场上进行课外活动。有些同学喜欢篮球，足球和羽毛球。有些同学喜欢乒乓球或游泳。除此之外，有的同学喜欢到图书馆看书，他们认为阅读也是放松的好方式。对于我来说，我喜欢跑步和阅读。

[描写课外活动的英语作文附中文

Here is an introduction of my schools part time activity.It is my honor to show you .and today I would like to tell you something about the part time activities in my school. Our school has various activities outside class.the activities begin at 4;20 and end at 520 everyday.the groups on different subjects including go out visit, sightseeing, speech contests, art festival, volunteer activities, sports meeting and so on.

Among them, I would like to take part in the sightseeing and  art festival the  most. Because the activities are wonderful.

So I really hope that we can have less homework so we can have more time to participate in the part time activities to have a relax . hope you join us and enjoy every moment in my school !

这是我学校的业余活动简介。我很荣幸向你展示。今天我想告诉你一些关于我学校的兼职活动。我们学校在课外有各种各样的活动。20日结束，每天5 20日结束。

其中，我最想参加的是观光艺术节。因为活动很精彩。

所以我真的希望我们可以少做家庭作业，这样我们就可以有更多的时间参加兼职活动来放松一下。希望你能加入我们，享受我学校的每一刻！

上周，是我们学校的第二届英语活动周。在这一周里，英语活动内容可谓是丰富多彩：手抄报比赛、指手画脚猜单词、书写比赛等大大激发了我们学英语、用英语的兴趣。可令我最难忘的要数周五下午的游园活动了。

中午吃完饭，老师们把精心准备的各种道具准备好后，游园活动就开始了。同学们个个兴奋不已，笑嘻嘻地穿梭于各个教室。刹那间，整幢教学楼变成了欢乐的海洋。

听说“希腊”（403班）的“点蜡烛”好玩又简单，我便和好朋友金宇虹手拉手一起去碰碰运气。一到那儿，一条“长龙”即映入眼帘，看来这个项目很受同学们的欢迎。我们随着人流走进了龙尾行列。慢慢地，我们进入了龙头的行列。我伸头前望，只见一个瘦小的女孩一下子就点燃了三根蜡烛而顺利通关了。“这个游戏的确挺简单的嘛！通关对于我来说应该不成问题。”于是，我信心十足地站在队中，不时向前移动着脚步。就在快轮到我时，一种莫名的担忧涌上心头：万一我动作慢了烧到手怎么办？同学们会不会笑话我呀？“快，轮到你了。”金宇虹对我说。我猛地回过神来，接过火柴，闪亮登场。“哧——”火柴擦着了，我急忙将火柴移向蜡烛。可是这火苗像故意跟我作对似的，东躲西藏，就是不和烛芯亲热。无奈，最后以失败而告终。我定了定神，又擦燃了第二根。这次我吸取教训，放慢了速度。谁知，这“熊熊大火”还没等到我移向蜡烛已经亲吻了我的手指，我只好大叫着将它扔到了地上。此刻，我狼狈极了，但为了尊严故作镇定。我又擦燃了第三根、第四根……时间到了，最终我只点燃了一支蜡烛！看来，不论何时都不能轻信别人的话，只有亲身下河才能知深浅，只有亲口尝梨才能之酸甜呐！

离开那伤心地，我来到了“西班牙斗牛场”（自己班教室），争取在这里找回点自信。瞧，赛场上那些瘦骨嶙峋的“牛”一下子就被那些膘肥体壮的“牛”撞出圈外，直接淘汰出局。此时，我暗下决心：只能成功，不许失败！

因为这里排队的人不多，所以很快就轮到我了。看到对手，我不由得松了一口气，因为跟我斗的是503班的一头瘦弱的“小牛”。我们的决斗一开始他就向我发起猛攻。他的腿真硬啊，撞在我的腿上犹如硬石砸落下来。我不甘示弱，双手牢牢地抱着脚，谨慎地周旋着，一旦抓住时机就凶猛地进行反击，非要和他拼个你死我活不可！慢慢地，他支持不住了，只好向我投降。“呜呼，我赢了！”我开心地大叫起来。同时，我也悟出了一个道理：在“战场”上，要智取，不可蛮斗。

后来，我又去玩了“跳麻袋”、“金字塔”、“踢足球”……每项活动都很好玩，都带给了我不同的体验。

这次的游园活动令我终生难忘，因为我们在玩游戏的同时学到了不少知识，也懂得了不少道理！

在我的家里有一股笑话热潮，这是因为开心的笑话可以为父母解除一身的疲劳。每到星期日晚上，我们三个都会每人讲个笑话。

“咳咳!”到我讲笑话了，“爸爸妈妈，快入座，本人的笑话时段到了!”父母放下手头的事情，在“贵宾席”就座。“话说唐僧师徒四人坐飞机去西天取经，半路上飞机起火了，可是只有三个降落伞，于是唐僧让三个徒弟回答问题，谁答对了谁得降落伞。他问孙悟空：‘天上有几个太阳?’悟空答：‘一个!’于是唐僧给了孙悟空一个降落伞;他又问沙僧：‘天上有几个月亮?’沙僧答：‘一个!’唐僧又给了沙僧一个降落伞。轮到猪八戒了，唐僧问：‘天上有几颗星星?’……”“哈哈哈哈……”听了我的笑话，爸爸妈妈前仰后合，笑得合不拢嘴，笑得直不起腰，笑得忘了所有的劳累。

我们家不仅有笑话热潮，还有激烈的抓螃蟹比赛。每当我们家买回螃蟹，都会把螃蟹放到盆里，三个人比赛抓螃蟹。谁能把螃蟹抓起来10秒就积1分，5分钟内，谁积的分多谁就是优胜者，把最大的那只螃蟹奖给他。爸爸把抓螃蟹当成习以为常的事，每次都抓得又快又准，所以次次都是第一，我和妈妈只好啃着“残兵蟹将”，看爸爸津津有味地吃大螃蟹，馋得我们“口水直下三千尺”。

怎么样，我的家庭娱乐不错吧?你和家人也玩一玩吧!

campus activities have been organized in many universities and colleges. these activities range from academic to recreational, such as academic reports, social consulting services, speech contests, poet’s club, painting clubs, singing and dancing groups, etc.

these activities provide students with two major advantages. first of all, they play a positive role in improving students’ studies. due to their heavy schedules, students are often busy themselves with textbooks and seldom expose themselves to a colorful life. but the variety of the activities provides opportunities for them to relax themselves and enrich their minds and knowledge. in addition, the activities also serve students living in the ivory tower have little chance to get in touch with society. now the activities open the door for participants to leave their classrooms and get to know society.

all this offers an important means for students to broaden their horizons. they believe with the right kind of guidance and help campus activities will continue to grow and flourish.

My teachers and fellow students，

In a couple of weeks， we’ll say goodbye to our mother school. How time flies! Now It’s really hard for me to put my feelings into words. The past three years has been really a wonderful journey with you guys， full of laughter and tears。

To make the journey safe and fruitful， our great teachers contributed their time， energy， love and the whole heart. Here， we are extremely grateful for all that you， dear teachers， have done for us。

It’ll soon be the time for us to depart， though unwillingly. But it is not the end. It just means that we’re going to begin a new journey。

Finally， on behalf of all the graduates present here， let me extend our sincere wishes for our mother school and respectable teachers. Thank you!

As is well known,books teach us to learn life,truth,science and many other useful things.

They increase our knowledge,broaden our minds and strengthen our character.In other words,they are our good teachers and wise friends.

This is the reason why our parents always encourage us to read more books.

Reading is a good thing,but we must pay great attention to the choice of books.

It is true that we can derive benefits from good books.

However,bad books will do us more harm than good.

Last week, my teacher told us that we would have a practical activity. At first, we were happy to hear it, all of us thought that must be very funny. But when we heard that we needed to assist the cleaners with their work, we felt lost. It must be the dirty work. However, the cleaners were very nice to us, and they did their work with passion. We tried to help them as much as we could. We talked happily. Suddenly, I was so grateful to them, as they were the city’s decorators. What they did meant so much to the society. We should respct them and understand their work.

I went to an English Summer Camp this summer vacation. Its really a good chance to improve my English. I ate lived learnt and played with my foreign teachers and my classmates for about three weeks. In the morning we had a four-hour-class. In the afternoon sometimes we saw an English movie otherwise we learned some English songs. In the evening we had our free time. We all had a lot of fun.

这个暑假我去了一个英语夏令营。这真是一个提高我英语的好机会。我和老外、同学们一起吃，住，学习和娱乐有大约三周。早上，我们有四个小时的课。下午，有时我们会看一部英文电影。要不然我们就学一些英语歌曲。晚上我们是自由活动。我们都很愉快。

[夏令营的活动英语作文

一天很快又将过去

总得去理一理

快乐的笑容

不知飘在哪里

你要悄悄问问自己

总得要去理一理

……

这是偶尔在网上看到的某一小学勉励孩子们的一首小诗。该校的理念是：让学生学会学习，让孩子每天像整理家务一样整理自己的学业。

此次活动的时间虽然不长，为了不让我的感触悄悄溜走，我也试着去问自己，我确实需要去理一理我对本次活动的思考与反思。

此次活动的主题是文本重构。先由新联小学的莫艳芬老师上一节汇报课，内容是PEP教材五年级下册Unit 4的 What are you doing?的对话课，随后，张凝老师为我们作了点评，并就文本重构为我们作了精彩而实用的讲座。

本次教研活动，让我感叹最深的是：教师能走多远，学生就能走多远！在平时的对话教学中，我们应该为学生创设一个又一个贴近生活，真实有趣的情境。只有有效的情境创设，才能让学生有重大突破的可能，由老师逼着说转化为情境使然，乐意说。也只有基于文本基础的情境创设才是有效的，才可以优化语言的输出。在充分考虑教学各环节的设计下，让学生的语言是有意义的，让学生的语言是有情感的。由此可见，创造语境乃是英语对话教学的一大核心，如何创造有效的语言情境也是我们面临的一大难题。只重情境再造，而忽略的文本重构，往往会造成教材文本情境的浪费。而张凝老师的讲座，清晰地向我们验证了：教师有多远，学生就能走多远！

反思一：如何创设语言情境，优化语言输出

在英语教学中，要优化语言输出必定离不开优质的语言输入。这种输入必须基于教学目标，合理创设语言情境，才可以让学生更好地接受。而听了张凝老师的讲座，引发了我的诸多思考，如何创设语言情境，优化语言输出，我们需要做到以下三点：一是给学生搭建一个基于文本的语言支架。二是给学生提供基于学情得语料。可以根据学生的兴趣爱好进行补充，可以激活学生的旧知，可以参考学生的生活经验，还可以从学生的心灵体验出发……三是教师要给学生展示各色各样的范本。最简单的莫过于诵读示范了，还可以进行表演示范和体态语的示范。总之，在创设情境时，要多关注学生的心灵，倾听学生的心声，学生需要的，适合学生的才是最好的。

反思三：如何做最好的自己？

课堂上，我必须有一个清晰的自我定位。如果连自己都无法认清自己在课堂上的地位，还怎么去教学生呢？如果自己都感到迷惑了，感到痛苦了，那么很有可能把学生也弄迷惑了，害惨了。教师不仅仅是教案的执行者，更要做一个明白人？

在平时，要极力做一名反思型教师。反思是一种美德，学会自我反思是一个老师的必备素质。两千多年前的孔夫子的就我们教导“吾日三醒吾身”，可见不断反思，才能逐渐进步。

最后引用李开复博士的一句话：“有勇气来改变可以改变的事情，有胸怀来接受不可改变的事情，有智慧来分辨两者的不同”，做最好的自己，做快乐的自己，相信自己一定可以成功！

是的，很多像我们这样娱乐圈的圈外人啊，其实都是看不清那娱乐圈里面的内幕的。而我们看到的就只是娱乐圈的表面而已，那么多浮华罢了。那娱乐圈表面的光鲜亮丽真的迷惑了太多太多的人，让不少人都只看到了明星的闪亮与耀眼，却忘记了圈内是有多么的混乱，鱼龙混珠……

有时候，也是非常让人不解的，如今的追星族，一般都是喜欢这娱乐圈光鲜亮丽的生活吧。喜欢那明星有那么多的粉丝喜欢，喜欢他们能经常出现在电视上面，被别人所熟知。可是娱乐圈的浮华却是极少有人能够看透，就说说最近的花边新闻吧，白百合的。是的，白百合和陈羽凡当初的恋情真是让人羡慕不已，可如今白百合出轨，这一切的一切都让人十分唏嘘。我们只不过是个旁观者罢了，说到底我们还是在凑热闹啊，看个笑话的事情罢了。可其中的艰辛与心酸啊，也只有他们自己才可以理解懂得吧？是的啊，人有时候就是这样只看到了表面的美丽，却忘记了他们内里的肮脏。娱乐圈或许就是这样吧，看似花花绿绿一片大世界，可是实际上呢？深藏的东西实在太多了，潜规则等等，可以说吧，有人的地方就是有江湖，有江湖的地方就是有肮脏的。只要有利益的交锋，那么其中一定就是各种利益牵扯了。唉圈内人的事情，我们圈外人又能懂得多少呢？多少人都是一知半解的吧，又何必明白呢？肮脏的事情少知道点微妙。

只是那浮华的娱乐圈却依旧是不少人心之所向所往，只能说一句，太傻太天真了吧，安安稳稳过好现实，少点追星，多点孝心那才是好的吧。

学习和娱乐并非两种不能有效结合的东西，如何将学习和娱乐有效结合，我们就要做到学习娱乐两不误。

能做到学习娱乐两不误的人一定有自己的方法，那么，怎样才能做到学习娱乐两不误，假期作业要完成，但玩一定也少不了，过多的学习会让人觉得累，压力大，但过多的玩会耽误学业，甚至引起与家长的争吵，所以，在假期合理安排学习娱乐，是十分重要的。

做到学习娱乐两不误，最重要的是有自制力，其次是有计划。先要定好合理的适合自己的计划，然后按计划完成，不要在学习任务没完成的情况下进行娱乐活动，也不要直接将计划丢弃在一旁，要按照计划，在坚毅的意志力下日复一日，充实整个假期。假期中应找到一个起点，例如从今年的1月25日开始，按计划进行，而2月25日之前，会仔细定制假期计划，学习计划、娱乐计划，都会有时间安排，精确到时间段，按计划实行，总会觉得很自在，没有学习压力，

没有想玩不能玩的烦恼，不会养成边玩边学的三心二意的坏习惯。

想要更多时间玩，就要提高学习效率，提高学习效率也有一定的方法——以学为先、随处学习、如不会和容易混淆的英语单词，将它们抄写在一个小本子上，可以随时随地的记忆；学会阅读、善做笔记、书写整洁、及时提问、学习互助，做到这些，提高了学习效率，减少学习时间，就可以有大把的娱乐时间，当然，关键是以学为主。

身为学生，学习是责任，爱玩是天性，当两者必须并存时，就要选一种好方法，在两者的领域做到极致，劳逸结合，两者不误，如果能做到这些，想必离成功不远了！

随着生活水平的提高,人们在各种休闲活动中的时间越来越多。人们可以做运动,唱歌唱歌,跳舞,去看电影,玩电子游戏或网络游戏,或者上网。

娱乐活动对人们的身体和心理健康都很有益。体育和舞蹈可以保持人的健康。唱歌卡拉ok,玩电子游戏或网络游戏可以满足人们的想象力。上网可以给人们带来很多信息和知识。

然而,如果人们上瘾,娱乐活动可能是有害的。花太多的时间在娱乐活动上会严重影响人们的正常生活,特别是工作和学习。因此,只有适当参与娱乐活动,人们才会从中受益。

“英语节”的活动真是花样百出，有画海报、抽奖券、看英语电影……真是让我眼花缭乱，兴奋不已。其中，最好玩的就是抽奖券和“圣诞老人抽幸运班级”啦！

活动现场一进门，哇，好多人耶！原来是英语老师正在为同学分发幸运奖券呢！我和王怡然立马奔向傅老师。啊！轮到我了！我紧张地把手伸进神秘的袜子里，心中充满了期待。呦……是一个棒棒糖，没有中奖，但有糖果吃也不错啦！

“叮咚”，同学们一听到广播就知道是杰妮老师带着“圣诞老人”来抽“幸运班级”啦！“现在终于轮到三、四年级抽奖啦！“圣诞老人”笑呵呵地说着，大家马上安静下来，屏住呼吸期待着结果。“让我看看，嗯……当当当当！是四零……，”随着“圣诞老人”故意拉长的声音，同学们纷纷伸长耳朵，瞪大眼睛，准备着又希望着……“是四零五班！恭喜四零五班！”

虽然，我没有中奖，但这个英语节我很快乐，因为英语节本来就是让我们学习知识的活动，我也确实收获了许多，也让我对英语产生了更浓厚的兴趣

前几天因为西安“与尸体合影”的事，又有人开始谴责世风日下，再联系起近年来其他俗套无聊的社会性事件，痛心疾首地感叹现在社会是一个娱乐至死的审丑社会。我也不满于照片中的年轻人，可转念一想，相比于对死者的不恭，这种上纲上线的“救世情怀”似乎更令人不悦。

首先，这种碰到任何负面新闻都会二话不说开始忧国忧民的言论风潮，本身就是一个让人不安的社会事件。仔细观察不难发现，这些言论多是对事件的有关方面发动全方位的攻击，或是45度角仰望天空，疾呼“世风日下，人心不古”。可是如果你想听听这些问题的深入分析和解决方案时，就会发现这是一块相当贫瘠的领域。众所周知，骂娘容易办事难。即使尖锐如鲁迅也承认，在把铁屋子打破之前，让屋中的睡客接着做黄粱美梦远比把他们叫起来一起诅咒现实要强得多。因此，相比受谴责的对象，这种空有冲动，毫无营养，只会滋生民众躁动情绪的“垃圾食品”才是我们更应该抛弃的。

退一步讲，轻如神曲凤姐，重如“助人被碰瓷”和“郭美美案”，真的需要我们群情激愤大肆讨伐吗？社会的发展如同竹笋吐芽，总是在好似破茧成蝶般纠结的挣扎中迈向下一个台阶。我们不要忘了，即使有让梁惠王面见孟子时不好意思的通俗音乐，依旧不妨碍春秋战国成为中国历史上绝无仅有的文化大发展时代；而如今被列为古代文学成就的小说，最早也是难以登堂入室的市井小玩意。显然，讨论事物的是非曲直和无聊有趣是一个非常复杂的过程，我们大可不必在简短思考之后就给它们扣上“低俗”的帽子。

任何一个时代在当时的人看来都是一个娱乐的轻浮的时代。因此，试图改变时代的娱乐性是不现实的，我们应该做的，是去发现娱乐大潮中的美好，舍弃其中的糟粕。

今天，我们学校举行了一场别开生面的跳绳比赛 。听到广播里说：“同学们搬上凳子，出去整队……”的时候，我就迫不及待地第一个冲出教室，等同学们出来后，又站到队伍里。我们排着整齐的队伍走到指定的位置，准备观看比赛。

比赛开始了！五六年级的大哥哥大姐姐们跳起了“８”字跳，还有各种跳法……那熟练地样子使我看的十分入迷。

五六年级比赛完毕后，就该我们四年级一班比赛了，我们拿着花花绿绿的跳绳走到了赛场 。这时，我的心里就像十五只吊桶打水??七上八下，呼吸也比平时快多了，额头上渗出了汗水，唯恐自己跳不好。

正在我十分紧张的时候，哨声响了，我赶紧跳了起来。最后，我跳了一百三十六下，超过了我原来的水平，我非常高兴。

然后，一、二、三年级的同学们也各显身手，他们虽然都比我小，可有的还比我跳的好呢！我以后要加强锻炼，争取在下一次比赛取得更好的成绩。从这次跳绳比赛我得出了一个结论，不管做什么事情都得努力，不努力，不锻炼，是不会有好成绩的。

最后，平时严肃的老师们也参加了比赛，像小孩子一样。

这次跳绳比赛，虽然我们班没得第一，但我懂得了，光靠一个人的力量是不够的。我们全班同学都要发奋努力，好好锻炼，团结一心。在今后的比赛中，一定要为我们的班集体争光！夺得第一！

"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas"Have you heard that song? Yup! Its Christmas time! This Christmas, I stayed with my "host family"1. It was an amazing experience to see how a typical American family would celebrate the biggest western festival of the year.

Christmas, like our Spring Festival, has a meaning in itself. Christmas Day, which is on December 25, is the birthday of Jesus Christ--the son of God. Thats why it is called Christmas. On that day, Christians would get together with their families to celebrate the birthday of Jesus. But nowadays, the religious meaning of Christmas has become less emphasized. To many families, it is just a time of family reunion and the ever-exciting present-giving.

Our school had been on winter vacation since December 11. I stayed at my friend, Stephen Stapczynskis house--his family was my "host family". Although Christmas was still more than ten days ahead, the festive spirit had already been teeming everywhere. The Christmas tree had already been set up, and on every windowsill, there were Christmas lights. On the first day I arrived at their house, Stephen and I helped Mrs. Stapczynski put decorations on the Christmas tree. The tree looked so nice with all the lights on and the beautiful ornaments dangling from its branches.

As Christmas came closer, the whole neighborhood had made preparations too. Some people would hold parties at their houses, inviting all their neighbors to come. So every night, if you went out, you would see a long line of cars parked in front of some house--a partys on!

Whats more, the Christmas decorations that some people put on their windows and in gardens were just amazing. On one night, we went out in our car for a "tour of lights". There was one street that was so famous for its lights that it got its way into the local paper. We had a hard time finding the well-hidden street, but it turned out to be worth the effort. Lights shone brightly in front of nearly every house, on trees, bushes, doors, windowseverywhere, taking different shapes, making it seem almost like daytime. Huge inflatable figures in the front gardens were waving to us: there were Santa Clauses2, of course, chuckling merrily away; and there were also other Christmas figures, like Rudolph3--the red-nosed reindeer--with his red nose gleaming ever so brightly; even Bart Simpson--a character in the famous comedy The Simpsons--had joined the jolly party, wearing a Santas hat. The street set off a lot of "ooh"s and "aah"s inside the car.4 When we left, there was a line of cars in the street, all there to see the lights.

Christmas is the time for exchanging presents. Stephen and Niko had been thinking about their Christmas lists (a list of things they wish "Santa"to give them for Christmas) for a long time. I didnt want to ask for anything, but the Stapczynskis were so kind to "force"me make one list as well (Mr. Stapczynski told me if I didnt make one he would chop off my legs). So I wrote down a couple of things that I would like to have, and gave the list to them--sorry, my mistake--to Santa.

Finally, Christmas Eve came. There was a special Christmas service at the church at 6 p.m. It was certainly a very interesting experience for me. The priest started the service reading and sang out extractions from a holy book--The Divine Liturgy. For several times, we would stand up and pray.

Sometimes, the church choir would start singing. The atmosphere was very quiet and holy. Then there was a ceremony called "The Receiving Communion". People waited in line to "receive"a spoonful of food from the priest. It was a very special Christmas tradition. The food was made from bread and wine. The bread represents the body of Jesus, and the wine represents his blood. After this ceremony, the priest had a speech. He reminded us not to forget the true meaning of Christmas, and let Jesus really live inside us--that is, to love the people around us wholeheartedly. I think that no matter if you are a Christian or not, this principle should be part of our lives. After the priest finished his speech, the part that I enjoyed most came: Christmas carols5. Christmas carols are songs that people sing at Christmas, such as "Jingle Bells", "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "Silent Night"and so on. Some were very merry, others sounded quite holy, but all of them were beautiful. I closed my eyes, and let all the peacefulness and happiness that were in the songs flow through me. What a feeling it was!

We went to sleep earlier that day for we had to get up early on Christmas Day to open our presents. Sure enough, when I was still half-way during a sweet dream, Stephen burst into my room and told me to get up and open presents. There were a huge pile of presents under the Christmas tree, and there was such a mysterious mist shrouding them that made me eager to see what they all were. So one by one, we went through all the presents. Mr. and Mrs. Stapczynski had bought me everything I had written on my Christmas list--and a lot more! I got music CDs, film DVDs, clothes, books I was very happy, and I didnt know how to express my appreciation for what they had done for me.

Stephen and Niko had gotten a lot of presents too, and they had already been trying out their new games!

In the afternoon, we went to Mrs. Stapczynskis brother, Uncle Stans house. They had prepared a marvelous meal for us. A lot of their friends and relatives also came. I saw Stephen and Nikos grandparents, Yiayia and Papou (words of grandma and grandpa in Greek--Mrs. Stapczynskis parents came from Greece, so they like the boys using Greek words to call them). They were very kind to me, and treated me just like one of their family members. We had a very luxurious meal, consisting of turkey, beef, pork, and all sorts of other food.

After the meal, when all the stomachs were full and everyone was feeling drowsy6 from all the food, we just sat around the table and chatted, just like what we Chinese people do at the Spring Festival. After all, Christmas, like the Spring Festival, is a time for us to get away from our busy lives, a time for family gathering, and a time to have some fun.