A few days before Christmas, Oxford street is swarming with last
minute shoppers, laden with parcels and bags. Christmas is the
highlight for many people, especially little childen, from as tall as
your ankle to as tall as your knee. Small todlers were moaning and
disappearing into the clothes racks like magicians disappearing in a
puff of smoke entertaining the gullible audiences.
Families and friends gradually emerge from clogged buses and congested
trains, tired, exhausted and hungry even at this very early stage, as
if they had spent the whole night awake, like a distressed parent
waiting for their child to arrive home from a party but has still not
arrived, two hours past their curfew.
Oxford street is the main high street of the whole of England. It
flocks many tourists, as though it has a force or power, just like
opposite ends of a magnet attract one another. Oxford street is as
long as I can possibly imagine; it is 10 time longer than any local
high street and is as wide as six elephants put together. Oxford
street contains a lot of various shop which other high streets have,
plus some extra. It is as if Oxford street encloses a immeasurable
proportion of England as it has a great deal of stores; some immense
while some petite. It's not restricted - even Regents street is much
more genteel like a magnificent pet and Bond street is tremendously
aristocratic like a diamond engagement ring and only the posh shop
there.
Oxford street is one maze, with all sorts of mystical secrets to be
uncovered and adventures to be explored and experienced. It is one
colossal, huge, extensive, perpendicular road with a range of exits...
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...ng for breath.
As I walk through 'MK1', I can undoubtedly see that many shoppers were
haggling over the price of purchases. Then someone barges into me and
I very nearly fall over with the force of it. After I recover from my
sudden fall, I widen my horizon and gaze upon particular groups of
people. I get attracted to look at the people with loud voices.
The brightness of the light decreases as the clouds begin to fasten
together together structuring one massive cloud. It began to snow. The
cold was beating on me. I felt the cold reaching my body even with
wearing a thick layer of wool covered by a fur coat. It was as though
I was wrapped with a sheep, which had never had its fur, trimmed.
The bitter air smacks my face as I walk, without any energy and worn
out, forwards towards the end of the road to relaxation.
behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat.” Due to circumstances not
Christmas has consumed itself. At its conception, it was a fine idea, and I imagine that at one point its execution worked very much as it was intended to. These days, however, its meaning has been perverted; its true purpose ignored and replaced with a purpose imagined by those who merely go through the motions, without actually knowing why they do so.
Christmas Under fire is a World War II propaganda film created by the G.P.O film unit under the instruction of the Ministry of Information. It was released in 1941 in an attempt to get the isolated United States to engage Germany and the Axis powers in World War II. The purpose of the film according to the director Harry Watt was to make Americans feel “Uncomfortable while they celebrated Christmas.”(Sarah Street, 79). The film showed the Christmas of 1940 which occurred at the height of the Blitz of London. The Blitz of London was a period of intense aerial bombing of London and the surrounding area. These attacks happened in night-time raids to instill fear and destroy the morale of the British people. The government used its control over the media to maintain the appearance that life was going on as normal despite the nightly bombings. This is apparent in other propaganda films, such as “London can take it”. Which is the prequel to Christmas under Fire.
Skipping Christmas starts out at the gate in an airport. Luther and Nora Krank are there with their daughter Blair, waiting for a flight to Miami that will eventually bring her to eastern Peru, where she is going with the Peace Corps. They all say their goodbyes and the parents leave. Nora is very upset, while Luther isn’t so much. On the way home they stop at a store for white chocolate and pistachios. Luther unwillingly goes in to get it and finds every little thing a hindrance. He is easily annoyed, and doesn’t get the white chocolate. Nora then has to go in the store to get it, and she does so with much annoyance. While Nora is in the store, Luther daydreams about not having to do the Christmas season.
There are approximately 196 countries in the world and almost every single one of them celebrates Christmas differently. Christmas in Mexico (Navidad) is a million times different than the Christmas that we know and celebrate in the U.S. In Mexico there are lots of events that happen before January 6th, which is Epiphany day (The day of the Three Wise Men) also known as “El Dia de los Reyes”. I am will be explaining every all of the events that take place during Christmas (Navidad) all the way up to January 6th.
According to William Muir Auld’s book Christmas Traditions, the Christmas tree found its way into the hearts and homes of Christian people with their thoughts and sentiment. Auld writes, “On the night in which Christ was born, all the trees in the forest, despite snow and ice, bloomed and bore fruit” (Auld 138). This story was first told by a geographer of the tenth century named Georg Jacob. This story was as highly believed as the birth of Christ. Christmas trees can be dated back through writing, specifically songs and are associated with the Church, specifically to post-Reformation times. The trees, which decorate homes worldwide, are linked to a spiritual tradition practiced by a variety of religious groups. (The Fir Tree, page 241 in
Holidays have always been known to affect our consumer culture for many years, but how it all began eludes many people and very few studies have been completed on it. Even though some say that the subject is too broad to precisely identify how holidays, especially Christmas, directly affect our market, I have found that people’s values, expectations and rituals related to holidays can cause an excessive amount of spending among our society. Most people are unaware that over the centuries holidays have become such a profitable time of year for industries that they now starting to promote gift ideas on an average of a month and a half ahead of actual holiday dates to meet consumer demands.
When thinking about the song, Twelve Days of Christmas, I absolutely cannot sing the song pass the second day of Christmas! Although, I am very familiar with the song I do not actually sing this song during Christmas time, even though it is a classic Christmas song. This probably explains why I cannot fully get pass the second verse of the song without complications, but I can still remember minimal words from parts of the song because my brain has not encoded the entire song in my long term storage. This could also explain why I can only retrieve minimal words from the song.
I love Christmas. I think it is the most wonderful day of the year.When my calander mark December 26 butterflies flutter around my stomach and I feel like a kid in the candy store . I love this day so much because I eat delicious food, see my family, and receive presents.
As I skim through the Chadwick’s mail-order catalog, I come across a woman, who looks as if she is in her mid-thirties, standing outside on the snow-covered ground. Her gloved hand is arched back in a ready-to-throw position with a snowball resting in her palm. The woman is wearing a ¾ length gray wool coat and black leather gloves, which catches my eye. The serene, white-topped leaves of the pine trees lean in different directions, waiting for spring to arrive. “Winter is a breeze if you buy this coat” is the message I receive from this friendly-gestured woman. This warm, easy feeling especially comes into play during the holiday season when we buy gifts for our friends and family.
People have celebrated a mid-winter festival since pre-historic times. They marked the beginning of longer hours of daylight with fires and ritual offerings. The Roman festival of Saturnalia -- a time for feasting and gambling -- lasted for weeks in December. Germanic tribes of Northern Europe also celebrated mid-winter with feasting, drinking and religious rituals.
Christmastime was always a magical time of year for me. The beautifully decorated shopping malls, with toys everywhere you looked, always fascinated me. And the houses, with the way their lights would glow upon the glistening snow at night, always seemed to calm me. But decorating the Christmas tree and falling asleep underneath the warm glow of the lights, in awe that Santa Claus would soon be there, was the best part of it all. As a child, these things enchanted me. Sure, the presents were great, but the excitement and mystery of Christmas; I loved most of all. Believing…that’s what it was all about. Believing there really was a Santa and waking up Christmas morning, realizing he’d come, as my sleepy eyes focused on all the fancily wrapped presents before me.
December 25 is the time of year that everyone celebrates, but does not know the true meaning of this day. Christmas is my favorite holiday because it is the time of year for loving, giving, and remembering who this holiday is for.
Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping, for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me. Spending Christmas with my family is very important to me. We usually gather and celebrate at my parent’s house, in East Tennessee. My husband, our three children, and myself travel from California. My two sisters, their husbands, and children come from a nearby town, for our celebration.
Christmas was always a big event in our family. We always spent Christmas Eve with my father's family and Christmas Day with my mom's. There was always a lot of food and many gifts, but for the first four or five years of my life, I had no clue what we were celebrating. I really don't think I cared too much, being a young child caught up in all the excitement. And I had something to call it. Christmas. That's all I really needed until I stumbled upon a Christmas special on television entitled A Charlie Brown Christmas. I must have been four or five years old at the time, I can't remember for sure, but I don't think I had started kindergarten yet. But I know I was curled up in a Sesame Street sleeping bag in front of our old television set, one of the small older models instead of the giant entertainment centers like we have now.