Tis the season for candy canes and ornaments and reindeer! Today you’re going to learn 50 Christmas vocabulary words for decorations, food, drinks, traditions, and winter activities — so you can talk about the holiday confidently in English.
You’ll definitely want to download today’s lesson PDF with all the Christmas vocabulary words and pictures for easy review.
Now, grab a cup of hot chocolate ☕, get comfy, and let’s learn some festive holiday words together! ❄️
Christmas Decorations
We’ll start with words for decorations – the main one is a Christmas tree, which we decorate with Christmas lights, ornaments, and tinsel.
We also have decorative plants like mistletoe, holly, poinsettia, and a wreath.
You’ll also see lots of bells, candles, stockings, and maybe a snow globe.
Make sure to wrap your gifts using wrapping paper and ribbons… or a gift bag with tissue paper.
Christmas Foods
How about some foods that are often eaten for Christmas dinner? There’s roast turkey, prime rib, and baked ham – accompanied by mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or stuffing.
For appetizers we might have deviled eggs, and nuts to snack on.
And the best part is dessert – we have pie, Christmas cookies, peppermint bark, and of course candy canes. Some families also make gingerbread houses and Christmas pudding.
Christmas Drinks
Drinks that are often served around Christmastime include eggnog, hot chocolate, hot cider, and mulled wine – that’s wine with extra spices, which is served warm.
Christmas Activities
Common Christmas activities include sending Christmas cards and singing Christmas carols (those are traditional songs).
If there’s snow, kids can go sledding and build a snowman while the adults light a fire in the fireplace.
It’s also nice to give to charity, and some families do a “secret Santa” gift exchange – that’s when each person does not know who is giving their gift. Whatever you do, what’s most important is to enjoy the Christmas spirit – that’s the general cheerful feeling/mood).
Christmas Traditions
According to tradition, the one who brings gifts is Santa Claus, who’s sometimes also called Saint Nick. He lives at the North Pole with his elves (mythical creatures who are Santa’s helpers).
Then he rides his sleigh, which is pulled by reindeer, and comes down the chimney to leave the gifts. But if you’ve been naughty – meaning badly behaved – you might only receive coal for Christmas.
Traditions related to the birth of Jesus include advent – that’s the time before Christmas when we count down the days. Some churches do a Christmas pageant – a theatrical performance of the story of Jesus’ birth as told in the Bible.
Houses might have a nativity scene, with small figurines representing Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and the other people in the story, like the shepherds, the wise men or magi, and angels – all surrounding baby Jesus lying in a manger (a feeding container for animals).
How do you celebrate Christmas? What are your favorite traditions?
Remember to download your free Christmas words PDF by clicking here.
And if you want to keep improving your vocabulary, join one of my courses:
Vocabulary Builder Level 1 (great for pre-intermediate students)
Vocabulary Builder Level 2 (great for intermediate students)
Advanced Vocabulary and Collocations
(great for upper-intermediate and advanced students)
I hope you have a very merry Christmas, and I’ll talk to you in the next video!
