Puoi ascoltare questo podcast e leggere contemporaneamente la trascrizione qui sotto, ma prima di seguire la trascrizione ti invito ad ascoltare senza leggere. Con un approccio positivo e curioso, accetta il fatto che non capirai tutto all’inizio, cerca di intuire il significato, poi dopo leggi la trascrizione per arrivare ad una comprensione completa. Buon ascolto!
So, this week I was speaking with a good friend about Christmas and what our plans are and she told me that her family are having a Secret Santa Christmas. A Secret Santa Christmas! How does that work? So basically, it works well for big families for adults, so no young children. And it alleviates the stress of having to buy presents and also receiving presents from other people. It’s a way to organise it, to maintain this spirit of giving but to keep it under control. So basically, one person in the family organises a list of all the names of the people and the names are all put into a hat and drawn out at random. And you only receive one gift and you only give one gift to a random person, and that person doesn’t know who the gift is from. Also you can put a limit on the money, so you can maybe set a budget of £20 or something, okay? And it’s a really nice way of getting rid of that stress of having to buy presents and worrying about how many presents you will receive and the cost of presents. It takes the consumerism element out of giving at Christmas time. There are also, I was looking online, websites that can organise it for you. You can basically put the emails in of every person and the website organises everything for you. I don’t know whether that costs or whether it’s a free service, anyway I’ll leave that to your curiosity, but I think it’s a wonderful idea.
And another really great idea when we’re talking about Christmas is also instead of giving a physical present, is giving someone an experience. So taking them to the theatre or maybe out to do something special, some kind of sport, something a little bit unusual that will become a memory. Because making memories is something very magical and very important, a lot more important than a gift that maybe someone won’t want, because how can you always know what to choose for a person? Maybe they won’t want it, it will be given away or it will be thrown in the back of a wardrobe. So, I think it’s a great idea.
I remember when I was a kid in the 80’s, we weren’t a particularly rich family and I remember wanting things that I didn’t receive, which is a good lesson as a child. But I also remember receiving a lot of presents and being happy about that. I would say now as an adult ‘grateful’, I was happy about it, but also a little dumbfounded by, you know, the quantity of presents and maybe things that I didn’t really want or need. It seemed a little strange even at the time I remember.
But another great idea also is, instead of giving a present this Christmas, why don’t you give some money to your favourite charity and then send a Christmas card to a person saying: “instead of giving you €15 and buying you a present that maybe you don’t want, I’ve given your €15 to this charity!” I think that’s a really nice idea to spread some true Christmas joy to other people.
So, I think I will try to put some of these ideas into action next year, because I’ve already bought, I’ve already sorted my presents for this year. And maybe I will bear this in mind when my daughter is just a little bit older.
So anyway, have a fantastic Christmas and a wonderful New Year if I don’t speak to you before!
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast and you want English as your second language, find out more about me and my method on my website, simply go to speakwithnick.it
And also on my website, as I said at the start of this podcast, you can listen to my voice as you read the transcript. There’s also a language focus to help you with some of the more unusual phrases I’ve used. The link is in the description. Happy Christmas and ciao for now!
Very useful tips about Christmas presents!!
It’s so stressful to me trying to get the right present for each member of my family also because I’m convinced that Christmas presents are for children and sometimes the presents you gift are so insignificant, banal and I really prefer to give my money to a charity, it’s
more useful and grateful.
Anyway, many thanks for all these Christmas presents advices and…. I wish you a wonderful Christmas!!