Hello and welcome back to English with Ally! It's me, Ally!

Today's episode is on Christmas shopping but I also want to share a note on why today is important for Roman Catholics. Let's look at some vocabulary first:

Words to listen out for are:

• Feast – a special day of celebration, often with food or religious meaning.
• Holy - sacred, connected to God or religion
• Pickled walnuts - a kind of nut in vinegar
• Window display - what is in a shop window for customers to see
• Sustainable – something that doesn’t harm the environment and can continue long-term.
• Experience gift – a present that is an activity or event, like a spa day or concert ticket.
• Wrapping - the paper or material that covers the present

It's the 8th of December, which is an important date in many Catholic countries, as on this day the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated. This day honours the Virgin Mary,  the mother of Jesus Christ. It’s a public holiday in places like Italy, so for many people, it marks the start of the Christmas season.

I'm in Ireland at the moment and my mother told me today was an important day for Christmas shopping in past times. As it was a holy day, people did not have to work and so they would go into the towns or cities to do their shopping! 

So today we'll look at Christmas shopping as one of the biggest traditions of the festive season. People buy gifts for family and friends, decorations for their homes, and all the little extras that make Christmas special, for example my father, who is English, buys pickled walnuts to eat! 

Shopping may seem very commercial for a holy time of the year, but gift-giving may have been inspired by the story of the Three Wise Men bringing their gifts to baby Jesus. Over time, this evolved into people exchanging presents with loved ones. 

In many countries, people start shopping early—sometimes as early as Black Friday in November. Shops are decorated with lights, Christmas music plays, and there’s a real sense of excitement in the air. Some shop windows have beautiful window displays, for example, Selfridges in London - you can see their window displays online on Youtube or social media platforms. 

Nowadays, shopping isn’t just about going to the high street. Many people buy presents online, and some even choose experience gifts instead of physical presents - such a cookery lesson or tickets to a theatre show. There’s also a growing trend for homemade gifts and eco-friendly wrapping to make Christmas more sustainable. 

Films often depict the stress of Christmas shopping such as

• Jingle All the Way – a comedy about a father desperately trying to buy the perfect toy.
• Love Actually – features classic London Christmas shopping scenes.

Do you enjoy Christmas shopping, or do you find it stressful, like me? Do you prefer buying gifts in shops or online? Let me know!

That’s all for today’s episode of English with Ally. Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you next time. Merry Christmas!

Learn the language, discover the culture.