Hello again and welcome back to lulu's happy hour. 欢迎你回到酒馆
There has been another round of temperature drop, it must be freezing out, so come on in, it's all cozy and toasting here and warm yourself up with some of our yummy hot drinks. If you like to drink a little, we've prepared mulled wine for you, 如果你喜欢小酌一杯，酒馆里为你准备了香甜的热红酒。Mulled wine, which is a popular drink at the season.
For those of you don't drink alcohol, no worries, we have for you hot cocoa to warm you up. If you are listening to this show, you probably know that in a couple of days, there will be a huge celebration in the west, Christmas. If you live in bigger cities in China, it is very difficult to ignore all the Christmas signs, decorations, sales and promotion. And in China, it is very commercialized. In recent years, there have been some worries about how a western holiday is taking over and possibly having negative impact on Chinese culture and traditions. The way I see it is, I have seen celebrations of Chinese New Year in other countries outside of China where the locals are more than happy to join in the festive mood. After all, what is a festival anyways. Many of the major festivals around the world share more or less the same themes. It's about families gathering, about food, about having fun. Some might say that Christmas is too religious, it's too related to Christianity. But actually, there is many holidays and festivals in the west that are far more religious than Christmas. For ordinary people in the west, even if you are not religious, you probably will still celebrate Christmas. Because nowadays, it's more about being together with your families, eating a lot, getting and giving presents. And in fact, many of the Christmas traditions are not related to Christianity at all. 虽然叫圣诞节，其实圣诞节的很多习俗都和基督教没有一点关系。
They got way back to the ancient times before Christianity when Europeans were celebrating winter solstice. 有很多是欧洲古老的冬至的经典习俗，沿用到今天的Christmas。We don't have to celebrate it. We don't have to become other people. But by knowing a bit more about a big part of this culture, we get to know a little more about the world. And you might realize that people all over the world share a lot more in common than you might think? So, today's episode we are going to listen to a classic piece of Christmas music, it's actually called the Christmas song, it's written in1945 and it has been performed by so many famous singers over the years. It's also one of those songs that immediately create a Christmas mood. So, let's look at the lyrics first.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos
Chestnuts 栗子，I don't know about other cities in China, but in Beijing, when I think of winter, I think of roasted chestnuts.热乎乎的糖炒板栗，只不过在西方，更多的时候是烤出来的。So, roasting on an open fire, you could imagine the aroma, the smell of chestnuts.
And Jack Frost nipping at your nose,
This is very cultural, Jack Frost, it's a personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter and freezing cold. Jack frost,冬天这么一个拟人化的存在，它跟霜冻，冰和雪有关系。Same as in Chinese, we have gods and immortals, spirits for a lot of things. In western culture, it's the same. Jack frost represents winter, so Jack frost nipping at your nose. You could feel the cold touch.
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
Yuletide carols, Yuletide means Christmas time, remember I said, Christmas is not just about Christianity, it goes back to before Christianity. Yule，y-u-l-e,本来是古英文里面的一个词，before Christianity, Yule was the name of a winter festival held sometime in December.其实yule在古英文里，是基督教之前的在12月份的一个节日，So nowadays, yuletide means Christmas time. Yuletide carols, carols, are these songs of phrases, songs of joys, people usually sing around Christmas time.圣诞颂歌，yuletide carols or Christmas carols.
Being sung by choir and folks dressed up like Eskimos.People have lots of layers of clothes, keeping themselves warm, so we have chestnuts roasting, the smell, Jack frost nipping at your nose, the cold air, you hear the Yuletide carols and see people dressed up in layers of clothes, such a wintery picture, and then the song goes on says, everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright. Turkey, their Christmas traditional food and mistletoe, m-i-s-t-l-e-t-o-e, this is a very very cultural reference. Mistletoe, it's a kind of plant.这种植物叫做槲寄生，it's used in Christmas decoration. If you stand underneath mistletoe, then you are expected to kiss, you cannot say no to a kiss.在槲寄生下就不能拒绝对方的吻。You see this cultural reference in so many TV and movies. So, everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.
Tiny tots are little kids, they are so excited, they won't go to sleep, why? Because they are waiting for Santa Claus.小孩子因为等待圣诞老人给他们带礼物来，会激动得睡不着觉。
They know that Santa's on his way
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And every mother's child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly
So, all the kids are waiting，kind of like the Chinese kids when you were very little. You would try to stay awake on New Year's Eve, try to awake for the beginning of New Year to get red envelops and the songs ends with And so I am offering this simple phrase,

To kids from 1 to 92.
To kids from 1 to 92,
Every person and Christmas can be as happy as kid,
Although its been said many times
Many ways: "Merry Christmas to you"
So with that, let's go to the song.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.
They know that Santa's on his way
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And every mother's child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly
And so I am offering the simple phrase
To kids from 1 to 92
Although it's been said many times
Many ways: "Merry Christmas to you"

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