Mentionsy

So here I am recording one about winter and Christmas.

Because, and I've probably said this before, it will always be part of small talk and no matter whom you're speaking with, it somehow always comes up in the conversation.

When it's warm, we talk about taking advantage of the weather outside and fitting lots of activities into our day.

Then maybe the high electric bills, road conditions and maybe even the food we cook to keep warm.

Frigid and chilly are two other words that are used in the same sense.

And what does a refrigerator do?

The last episode talked about Latin roots and English words.

And this is one of them.

Someone may ask you to describe the situation on the roads in the middle of winter and you could say that the roads are icy.

and clear layer of ice on a road, which means you can still see the road under the ice and you may not know the ice is there, which is what makes it even more dangerous to drive on.

Kids like to pull them off and play with them, but icicles can be hard and sharp, so playing with them can also be dangerous.

When you see a tiny bit of light snow on cars and sidewalks, it almost looks like dust, which is why we call it dusting.

So when your husband or wife asks you to look out the window in the morning and describe the snowfall, you could just say, not much snow, just a dusting.

Back then, when we used to get a lot of snow each winter, schools would close for a day or two to allow the neighborhoods to clean out the snow on the roads, shovel out the cars on streets and driveways and ensure everyone can commute safely.

And once the snow starts melting, we get slush.

Back in the 90s, before schools had their own websites and social media, we would wake up in the morning to watch the local morning news and watch the bottom of the screen.

My cousin Paweł and I would take our snow shovels out on a day when the snow was fresh and we would go around our neighborhood knocking on doors asking people if they would want us to shovel their driveways and walkways around the house in exchange for payment.

I would rather believe and tell myself that that was the start of my entrepreneurial endeavors.

I don't know whether this December will bring enough snow to put young children to work, but there is something beautiful, magic and nostalgic about a white Christmas.

But what is it that makes Christmas magical?

Są to kandle, kukurydze z zębarkami, gorący koko, a w domu jedynie gra na telewizorze.

Są to godziny i godziny little fire place burning and you can listen to the crackling fire or pick one with music in the background.

For example, I have one of me by myself making a paper Christmas garland for our tree.

The garland is the long decorative strand that you wrap around your tree.

And the one that they teach kids to make at school is the one with colorful paper links.

And speaking of decorating trees, anything you hang on the tree is called an ornament.

Whether it's a traditional glass ball, or a little picture, or something handmade, it's all called the same thing, an ornament.

Of course, for small children, what makes Christmas magical is...

Santa Claus, Santa's elves working in Santa's workshop, the reindeer leading the sleigh and dropping off presents for all the little boys and girls on the nice list.

I can't make a Christmas episode though without naming all of Santa's reindeer.

But then once it got dark and foggy outside and they needed an extra light or someone with a bright red nose, they wanted Rudolf's help.

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree or Jingle Bell Rock or Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

But when it comes to movies, any American Christmas movie that pops into mind is a classic and we watch them every single year.

Actually, when I first moved to America and was just learning about American culture and we couldn't stream movies yet, I was lucky that we watched a lot of movies in school.

Top American Christmas Classics are Home Alone A Christmas Story National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Scrooged

A Charlie Brown Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street.

Whether you keep true to religious Christmas traditions and go to Midnight Mass, or you prefer to make it all about Santa Claus and family hangouts, it's up to you to make it special for the next generation.

My Christmas is a little bit of both.

I'm going to be traveling to visit my in-laws and we'll be back in January with more energy and more episodes.