一篇关于娱乐活动的英语作文（20篇）

On Friday afternoon, the activity class began. We should have in the interior of the standing long jump, can our teacher have led us to epoch-making outdoor activities.

The teacher said: "boys and girls, two teams, come to a game, jump over, see which team first to the opposite." We are all leaping like a happy chicken. As a result, the boy team jumped and jumped into a mess, and I was also pressed into a "meat pie" by Ye Zuhui and others behind. But the boys are still winning, after all, is it a mans strength to run and jump! From time to time, the boys showed a triumphant smile and a joyful cheering from time to time.

But the girls, each pointing to our boys face, said: "the team is scattered, the win is not brilliant!"

The teacher also announced, "now race running, see who runs fast!" Prepare - start! We ran away like wild horses that had taken off the reins. Some of the students can see that they can run away from the runway and run to the end of the race. I have straight teeth, shouted: "who is not a shameless man!" But they listen to me, only if they dont hear them.

When everyone arrived at the end, the teacher said, "go back to the class, and then go down this way."

Although only a few short minutes, it has brought me a lot of happiness, left a deep impression.

Campus activities have been organized in many universities and colleges。 These activities range from academic to recreational， such as academic reports， social consulting services， speech contests， poet’s club， painting clubs， singing and dancing groups， etc。

These activities provide students with two major advantages。 First of all， they play a positive role in improving students’ studies。 Due to their heavy schedules， students are often busy themselves with textbooks and seldom expose themselves to a colorful life。 But the variety of the activities provides opportunities for them to relax themselves and enrich their minds and knowledge。 In addition， the activities also serve students living in the “ivory tower” have little chance to get in touch with society。 Now the activities open the door for participants to leave their classrooms and get to know society。

All this offers an important means for students to broaden their horizons。 They believe with the right kind of guidance and help campus activities will continue to grow and flourish。

[校园活动英语作文

As is well known,books teach us to learn life,truth,science and many other useful things.

They increase our knowledge,broaden our minds and strengthen our character.In other words,they are our good teachers and wise friends.

This is the reason why our parents always encourage us to read more books.

Reading is a good thing,but we must pay great attention to the choice of books.

It is true that we can derive benefits from good books.

However,bad books will do us more harm than good.

The story about Valentine‘s Day

There is a touching story about Valentine‘s Day from Europe. However, it is in honor of the great brother Valentine.

Long long ago, the tyrant Claudius was in chare of Roman. His tyranny made all the people angry and indignant. Not only lost people their home, but also wars were broken everywhere. What a worse, all the men must join in the army so that increase power. When the news was spread, every couple was forced to separate. Even if lovers must damage the marriage contract. This was more than people could bear. However, tyranny could not stop loving and love moved Valentine. In order to finished lovers’ dream, he helped them to hold weddings. Unluckily, Claudius heard it and he decided to sentence Valentine to dead on Feb.14th.

s in the playground in our school held a big activity - gratitude education.

The school also invited the space-squeezed cities teacher lecture for us. The teacher told us the word "teach" first, said: "what is education? First learn to filial piety, learning knowledge, order cannot be reversed." At this time of the classmates, as to the space-squeezed cities, content of the teacher speak of are listened with relish, wont make a sound.

The space-squeezed cities the teacher told us a deaf girl again to become the worlds model of small story. When you listen to, tears, some still can send out the voice of weeping, so do I. At this moment, I thought, with the size of the little girl my age dont have parents, and my mom and dad every day care about me, but I know when they are, is really ashamed!

Space-squeezed cities the teacher not only teach us grateful parents, and teach us grateful teacher.

The teacher said, "when you play in the playground, the teacher prepares a lesson in the office; when the dead of night, the teacher corrects students papers. The teacher position you pay, and you?" At that time, everyone bowed his head.

After hearing this vivid Thanksgiving education, I dont feel grateful, is not a person, Im sorry the word "person" title.

我们全校师生在操场上举行了一次大型活动——感恩教育。

学校还邀请了刘志老师为我们讲课。老师先对我们讲“教”这个字，说：“什么是教育?先学会孝顺，再学知识，顺序不能颠倒。”这时的同学们，好像对刘志老师讲的内容所着迷，都在津津有味地听着，不会发出一点声音。

刘志老师又给我们讲了一位聋哑小姑娘成为世界名模的小故事。大家听后，热泪盈眶，有的还会发出哭泣的声音来，我也一样。这时的我，想：与我年龄一般大小的小女孩都没有了父母，而我的爸爸妈妈每天都关心我，我却身在福中不知福，真是惭愧啊!

刘志老师不但教我们感恩父母，而且教我们感恩老师。

老师说：“当你们在操场上嬉戏的时候，老师在办公室里备课;当夜深人静的时候，老师在批改作业。老师不停地位你们付出，而你们呢?”这时候，大家都低下了头。

听完这节生动的感恩教育课，我觉得不懂得感恩的人，就不是一个活生生的人，就对不起这个“人”字称号。

学习，是我们成长中必不可少的东西，我们需要学习，我们爱学习，但，学习时我们不能只一味的看书本，那样，就成了名副其实的“书呆子”。当我们学到觉得枯燥的时候，这时，就有了娱乐。娱乐，顾名思义，就是找乐子，但，我们为什么要找乐子呢？很多人这时候就会这样想。告诉你们：其实，是因为学习枯燥才找乐子啊！那么，为什么学习枯燥了就要找乐子呢？答案就是刚刚那个，所以，学习和娱乐就这样联系在一起了，周而复始……

因为如果一个人花费太多时间学习他会疯的，但如果一个人总是玩不学习他会误了课程的。我想我们应该合理利用时间，学习之后的放松会使我们的大脑清醒这样有利于我们的学习。

小学生在学习的时候常常会感到疲劳，原因作业太多啦。每个老师都会给学生布置作业，并说老师布置作业是错误的，老师布置作业时，有想到学生的感受？（我估计有，总是站在的角度去考虑）。一位六年级的小学生，我深深的感受到作业的多少到休息的，当双休日来临时，在我的记忆当中最多的坐在椅子上专心的写着作业。看着窗外嬉戏的蝴蝶，听着小孩子欢乐的笑声，我总是想着，我能不长大多好呀！1~4年级的还好，可到了5~6年级时，是期中，期末的时候作业常常压得我喘不过气来，我真心的希望作业能够少一点，好让能安排的，让尽情的玩耍。

统筹好学习和娱乐的关系，才能实现个人的全面协调可持续发展。我们是人，不是学习的机器，我们也要放松，这，才是生活！

Last week, my teacher told us that we would have a practical activity. At first, we were happy to hear it, all of us thought that must be very funny. But when we heard that we needed to assist the cleaners with their work, we felt lost. It must be the dirty work. However, the cleaners were very nice to us, and they did their work with passion. We tried to help them as much as we could. We talked happily. Suddenly, I was so grateful to them, as they were the city’s decorators. What they did meant so much to the society. We should respct them and understand their work.

Work and play do not contradict each other; in fact, they complement each other. As the saying goes, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." A life burdened with work leads you nowhere, for you would get tired and bored with your daily routine work. On the other hand, proper recreation will relieve the tension and discomfort of our monotonous life because it offers you various ways to let out your pent-up emotions.

What I usually do to relax after school is jogging and seeing movies. Usually I dont spare time for exercise, but I value the physical education class at school. Jogging several rounds in the field certainly relieves the days pressure. On weekends, Ill catch the morning movie for my visual enjoyment. I feel revived and energetic for another weeks work-load.

工作与娱乐并不互相冲突，事实上，它们之间的关系还相辅相成。有句格言说：整日工作而没有休闲娱乐，会令人变得沉闷乏味。」被工作重担压得喘不过气来的生活，将使你一事无成，因为你将对一成不变的例行公事感到厌烦。由另一方面来说，适度的娱乐活动能提供各种管道，来渲泄你被压抑的情绪，减轻单调生活中的紧张与不悦。

放学之后，我最常做的休闲活动，便是慢跑与看电影。通常我并不特地拨出时间来做运动，但是我很重视学校的体育课。在操场上慢跑几圈，无疑地可以减轻一天的压力。在周末时，我都去看早场电影，享受视觉飨宴。如此一来，我将有如再生般的充沛活力，去面对下一星期的工作量。

今天我有幸代表四（8）班去我县义联庄乡崔庄小学参加救助山区“手拉手”联谊活动。

同学们穿着整齐的校服，戴着鲜艳的红领巾，怀着无比激动的心情踏上了去义联庄的路途。路上同学们说笑着，汽车飞快，但是我们的心却早已飞到了那里。大约一小时的光景，我们终于到了，迎接我们的是崔庄小学师生们热切的笑脸。我们兴奋地下了车，触目所见的是简陋的校舍，破旧的围墙，一看条件就非常艰苦，双方的同学们没有一丝陌生的感觉，很快就和我们融洽起来，询问着彼此生活和学习。我们学校为这次联谊活动作了精心的安排，首先向崔庄小学捐赠了书包、书本等学具，我校同学还表演了精彩的节目，然后我们就分头去联谊的小朋友家去体验生活，还要和小伙伴共进午饭呢！我们走了好远的山路才来到了联谊的三年级学生田芳芳家，一进院门是我们平时少见的三间土坯房，斑驳陆离，进了屋，屋里黑乎乎的，没有写字台，没有台灯，没有玩具，更不用说时尚的衣服了，但是贴在墙上的奖状却显得格外醒目，这时我深切地感觉到了我们和田芳芳同学的有着怎样的差距。

看着朴实、懂事的田芳芳同学，我想到了自己的生活，每天吃着可口的饭菜和零食，穿着自己心仪的衣服，由妈妈接送上下学，多么优越的条件啊，可是我们却不好好学习，于是我下定决心，通过这次联谊活动，一定珍惜自己拥有的一切，用优异的成绩来作为自己对父母和教师的报答！

我们全家都非常爱玩，每次去旅游，我们都要把当地的娱乐设施玩个遍，就这样，我们还不嫌过瘾，于是老妈提议，我们举家搬到了娱乐时代。娱乐时代，顾名思义，就是干什么都要以娱乐的方式进行，离开娱乐，人们将无法生活、无法工作。

我们先来到娱乐大厅，以猜拳的方式选出“善玩老爸”做代表选房，“善玩老爸”拿起选房工具“圆环”，向自己中意的房屋模型套去，结果选种了一套蜗牛形状的十层楼房。我们高高兴兴来到自己的新房，发现这里根本没有楼梯，只有攀岩设施和蹦极设施。原来是这样，要想进房子，不是爬进去，就是跳进去。这可乐坏了我，我先玩蹦极上去，又攀岩上去，这样反复了好几次，我才停下来。进了房子一看，各种家具都是拼装玩具，见到这些，我就玩起了家具改造，把桌子拼成小猪的样子，又把写字桌和沙发拼在一起，写作业可舒服了。这样，我一直玩到了晚上，该睡觉了，我进屋一看，睡的竟然是蹦蹦床，正和我意。

第二天，我去上学，没想到去学校要开着碰碰车去，我的兴致一下子来了，在马路上开始玩起了碰碰车，玩着玩着，突然我想起了上学。一进教室，我还等着老师的严厉批评呢。谁知老师却对我唱起了教育歌，我一点也不害怕了。

同学们，你们说娱乐时代好吗，请为我投票，我请大家来这里玩。

春节，应该是大家最喜欢的节日了吧?在春节，大街小巷都挂着红灯笼，家家户户都贴着红春联，人人脸上都洋溢着笑容，一派喜气洋洋的景象。而且，外出打工的年轻人都回家了，合家团圆，吃着年夜饭、一起看春晚，多么美好啊!最令人兴奋的是，我们小朋友还可以收到长辈的压岁钱哩!想想都是一件令人兴奋的事情。然而，春节伴随着寒假，有作业，且很快就要开学了。所以，春节不能盲目地玩，还需要有安排，才会“两不误”。那么，首先来讲讲我的计划吧!

在春节，一般都需要走亲戚呀、到处走走玩玩呀，加上我今年是在深圳，好玩的地方可就多着了!于是乎，在春节即将来临的前几天，我不能光顾着兴奋了，要抓紧时间，将作业尽量多写一些或者写完，这样，在春节期间尽情玩乐时才不会有“后顾之忧”嘛。

到了除夕这一天，我们一行人要到舅舅舅妈家的新房子里去啦。由于是新房子，所以需要大家在一起布置春节的东西，我也一定要给大人们帮忙啦。悄悄告诉你，在除夕那天晚上，我妈妈还会过来一起过年哦!想象一下，到时候大家在一起其乐融融地吃着年夜饭，多温馨啊。

当然啦，在寒假期间，还要复习一下上学期老师所教的知识，所谓“温故而知新”，只有以前所学的知识牢记与心间，学习新知识时才会更加顺畅。也不能忘记阅读课外书哦，它们能开阔我们的视野，陶冶我们的性情。

最后，预祝大家春节愉快!

难得的一个没有作业的暑假终于到来。

暑假还未开始时，同学们就开始讨论到底该怎样过小升初这个轻松、快乐的暑假？去玩，去疯……这将是一个自由自在的假期！这将是一个属于我们自己的假期！

而我，早已默默做了一个不同的决定。我本来可以选择尽情娱乐，但我不想这样，我想走在别人前方。

初中，对小学生来说也许是个“恶梦”。试卷一大叠，考试一大堆，作业往往都得做到晚上八九点钟。我想让我的初中生活轻松一些，所以，我放弃了娱乐的机会，先走了这一步。

暑假里，我没有去报任何衔接班，而是买了几本书，自己在家学。上午学语数，下午学英科，中午时间下一盘围棋。这便是我给自己定的学习计划。我要让时间过得更充实，过得更有意义。

“make full use of time”，这是我在一本书中学到的句子，意思是“充分利用时间”。我特意将它写下，并贴在书桌上。它似乎有种力量，在我不自觉时将我的心收回。

偶而打开手机，看见几位同学将自己玩耍的照片发到群里：有的在逛街，有的在看电影，还有的在国外旅游……

看到这儿，我的心猛地一抖，问自己：“你明明可以选择像他们那样，在这难得的暑假尽情娱乐呀！那样没有丝毫的压力，多好！”

但我听到，我的内心给出了明确的答复：要知道，你现在只是扮演着追赶者的角色，一定还有许多同学在更加拼命地学习，为初中做准备。你要‘笨鸟先飞’，在其他人放松之时加快脚步，一举超过他们！

我本来可以尽情娱乐，但我依旧选择努力学习。我没有失落，而是热情高涨。我对未知的初中生活充满期待……

There are many memorable things， I have had a particularly memorable things， that is my primary school graduation party. Although it is a party， but we are held during the day， may be called "white".

"The day before the white"， we are ready to do the work， prepared a cake， tea， sound...... There are many wonderful programs. The night before， I cant sleep a night， excitedly waiting for the arrival of"white".

The second day， I went to school early. To the classroom， I saw the classroom four corners of asound and the walls are connected with lights， window adhesive beautiful balloon......

When all the students came to the classroom， the teacher in charge announced the graduation party officially began. Some students take the curtains closed， lights are open， as in the balloon is more beautiful in the classroom， sound floated out of the soft songs. I drink a cup of milk tea， quietlywatching the students performances. Have a classmate in front of the blackboard， with white lightappeared in the students who， like in a concert. The classmates performance is very wonderful，suddenly the lights， "bang" sound. I dont know what was happening at the time， until you feel a littlepaper shredder body， I know just the students put pieces of fireworks.

"White" slowly is close to the end， the students sang Li Shutongs "farewell" "pavilion， the trail edgegrass， sky......" The song. Later， everyone is very sad， because some of the students in junior high school when they are not together， also after all， this is the last day in his alma mater.

Primary school I is how naive， is a naive child. Junior high school I know at that time were sad. A classmate， a friendship.

The primary school graduation let me forget.

I like to play the top of the top. After class, I ran to the playground, playing my favorite big gyro, and playing with my classmates.

Start the game! My classmates and I said, "one or two, three, hair." The gyroscopes I made were like the wheels of flying, whirling and hitting the top of the others top. One of the students moved his gyro on the edge of my top and collide with a rope. I think my gyro so badly, you told me the gyro gyro collisions, it is pale into insignificance by comparison. I put this into a gyro, gyroscope students hit but soon my reel right and left, top hold fast. At this time, another classmate told me to top match, who is afraid of him, I want him to fight a fight at outrance. But the classmate had just won two gyro collisions, and his gyro didnt have much to do. I saw this situation, and I whispered to him quietly, "wait for a moment first, lets beat the gyros that are against me, and then we will collide again." The students listen to, this is also a good opportunity for him to win, we will work together with each other together, and I suddenly get rid of gyro collisions.

This is my enjoyable class activity. But the interval between classes is too short, and its not enough to play the top of the top. I thought: it would be good to turn the class into a class. I also know that playing the gyro can eliminate fatigue.

Some students like to participate actively in after class activities. They think after class activities are an integral part of school life.

By going in for such activities, they can learn what they cant learn from books, which will be beneficial to them in the future.

Others, however, dont like after class activities at all. They think that a students work at school is learning theoretical knowledge and nothing else. Taking part in after class activities is a waste of the valuable time at school.

In my opinion, every student should engage in some after class activities because from these activities we can learn many valuable things that we wont learn in classrooms.

School is not just a place for learning the difference between "lie" or "lay", or what caused the hours of the daily schedule.

Finally, after class activities broaden our circle of acquaintances. No amount of ordinary school work can take the place of friends acquired in the informal familiarities of activities.

Earth hour 2015 (Saturday) on March 28, was held at 8:30. In response to a global response to climate change, the theme of this year, earth hour in China will continue to focus on the current the most urgent environmental issues, the most closely watched - fog haze, "can you see the blue" initiative.

"Can see blue, represents our Suggestions and expectations for the future. to, means that renewable energy can bring about change," blue "on behalf of each of us to say goodbye to the fog haze, looking forward to recover the blue sky." WWF China director-general, said the deepening earth hour 2014 "blue sky from" theme, on the basis of this year, earth hour will focus on energy issues, is committed to promoting the mainstream application of renewable energy.

In addition, with the theme of earth hour global AD released at the same time, the famous British rock band Bastille (Bastille) song, Pompey (Pompeii) as the background music, public display all over the world to tackle climate change has done positive contribution. Short film for the audience the United Nations secretary-general ban ki-moon, the United States President barack Obama, Emma Thompson (Emma Thompson), li bingbing, his fro (Marc Ruffalo), and other world leaders and international star support earth hours classic moment, encourage the public to play their own strength to reverse climate change.

2015年地球一小时将于3月28日(星期六)晚8:30举行。为响应全球应对气候变化的主题，今年地球一小时在中国将继续聚焦当前最急迫、最受关注的环境议题——雾霾，发出“能见蔚蓝”的倡议。

“能见蔚蓝，代表了我们的建议和对未来的期待。’能’，意味着可再生能源能够带来改变，‘蔚蓝’代表我们每个人对告别雾霾、寻回蓝天的期待。”WWF中国总干事卢思骋表示，在深化2014地球一小时“蓝天自造”主题的基础上，今年的地球一小时将聚焦于能源议题，致力于推动可再生能源的主流化应用。

此外，与主题同时公布的地球一小时全球宣传片，采用英国著名摇滚乐队巴士底(Bastille)歌曲——庞贝(Pompeii)作为背景音乐，展示了世界各地公众为应对气候变化所做的积极贡献。短片为观众呈现联合国秘书长潘基文、美国总统奥巴马、演员艾玛汤普森(Emma Thompson)、李冰冰、马克鲁法洛(Marc Ruffalo)等世界领袖和国际明星支持地球一小时的经典时刻，鼓励公众发挥自己的力量扭转气候变化。

这周五，我们坐着车直奔玫瑰海岸，周围的风景令人痴迷，好不容易到了。教练把我们带到了训练基地。

我们开始组队，我被分到了六组，我们组太多二次元的女生了，于是就叫了一个与其他组风格不同的高大上的名字：“抖S之队”（其他组都是超级怀旧的风格，像新四军等等）而口号

第一个项目是一个全年级的项目，是一个拍手的项目，不过很无聊大家只要在同一个节奏拍手就好了。我们很快就完成了。

第二个项目是大脚板，九个人站在两条木棍上，然后用手抓住绳子往前走，我们组真是强大，我们组都走完了，别的组才走了一半。

第三个项目是高空项目，我是第一个爬上去跳过断桥的女生，当我爬上去的时候往下看了看，确实挺恐怖的，然后我试探性的往前轻轻的跳了一下就滑过去了，然后我又跳了回去，才依依不舍的从梯子上下去了。

第四个项目是一个合作的项目，我们以最快的速度完成了，不过有点尴尬，因为是要拉着手的，我们组有男的，所以就用了一张纸隔着，牵手的时候不会碰到。不过效率低了好多。

第五个是最好玩的项目——毕业墙，看到下面的人搭起的人梯，我们将信任托付给了这些当人梯的同学和家长，托付给了下面保护的同学们，托付给了上面拉我们的老师。

当两百个人都翻过了毕业墙，在下面当了一个下午的丁浩终于要翻墙了，同学们一个都没放弃他们，一次一次的把他推上去。最后，老师咆哮着把丁浩推了上去。

团结就是力量啊！

"Jingle bell!" "Jingle bell!" The bell rang in the class. As the teacher stepped out of the classroom, the students rushed out of the classroom one after another.

Look, the playground is the childrens world, some play games, and some are doing sports. It is The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea show. You see, here the children I play, cut watermelon chicken, tiaopijin, hide and seek, guess who I am, and other games, theres kids running in the long jump, jump rope. Everyone is playing very hard and happy. I play the game of chicken, let me talk to you to play this game. First of all, through the scissors, baggage, hammer, who will be an eagle and a hen, the rest when the chicken, hen in front of the chicken hawk resist responsible for the attack, he was a chicken up behind the old hen, caught in front of a persons clothes by hand, the eagle not allowed to catch the hen can catch behind her chicken, when the eagle is almost caught the chicken, the chicken can duck, chicken is eagle caught going out, waiting in a place where chickens are all caught again, scissors, baggage, hammer, start again.

The time passed quickly, the class bell rang, and the students ran back to the classroom happily.

My teachers and fellow students，

In a couple of weeks， we’ll say goodbye to our mother school. How time flies! Now It’s really hard for me to put my feelings into words. The past three years has been really a wonderful journey with you guys， full of laughter and tears。

To make the journey safe and fruitful， our great teachers contributed their time， energy， love and the whole heart. Here， we are extremely grateful for all that you， dear teachers， have done for us。

It’ll soon be the time for us to depart， though unwillingly. But it is not the end. It just means that we’re going to begin a new journey。

Finally， on behalf of all the graduates present here， let me extend our sincere wishes for our mother school and respectable teachers. Thank you!

导语：3月12号的植树节你种树了吗?下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的优秀英语日记，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

March 12th is Tree Planting Day. This year our school bought enough trees before that day . On that day , we didnt had classes . The teachers and our classmates planted trees around our school.

We began to planted trees as soon as we got to school . Some students dug the holes . Some students put the trees into the holes.Some students put the earth back to the holes. Then we pushed the earth hard with our feet . At last we watered the trees as much as possible.

From then on we looked after the trees carefully and the trees grew very well . It made our shcool more beautiful .And How happy we are !

【参考翻译】

三月十二号是植树节。在这之前我们学校今年买了足够的树。那天，我们不用上课。老是和同学一起在学校周边种树。

我们一到学校就开始种树。有的学生挖坑，有的把树放进坑，有的学生把土产回坑里。然后我们用脚努力地把土踩结实。最后我们给树浇尽可能多的水。

从那时起，我们小心翼翼的照顾那些树，树也长得很好。它让我们的学校变得更加美丽。我们是多么的开心啊!

"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas"Have you heard that song? Yup! Its Christmas time! This Christmas, I stayed with my "host family"1. It was an amazing experience to see how a typical American family would celebrate the biggest western festival of the year.

Christmas, like our Spring Festival, has a meaning in itself. Christmas Day, which is on December 25, is the birthday of Jesus Christ--the son of God. Thats why it is called Christmas. On that day, Christians would get together with their families to celebrate the birthday of Jesus. But nowadays, the religious meaning of Christmas has become less emphasized. To many families, it is just a time of family reunion and the ever-exciting present-giving.

Our school had been on winter vacation since December 11. I stayed at my friend, Stephen Stapczynskis house--his family was my "host family". Although Christmas was still more than ten days ahead, the festive spirit had already been teeming everywhere. The Christmas tree had already been set up, and on every windowsill, there were Christmas lights. On the first day I arrived at their house, Stephen and I helped Mrs. Stapczynski put decorations on the Christmas tree. The tree looked so nice with all the lights on and the beautiful ornaments dangling from its branches.

As Christmas came closer, the whole neighborhood had made preparations too. Some people would hold parties at their houses, inviting all their neighbors to come. So every night, if you went out, you would see a long line of cars parked in front of some house--a partys on!

Whats more, the Christmas decorations that some people put on their windows and in gardens were just amazing. On one night, we went out in our car for a "tour of lights". There was one street that was so famous for its lights that it got its way into the local paper. We had a hard time finding the well-hidden street, but it turned out to be worth the effort. Lights shone brightly in front of nearly every house, on trees, bushes, doors, windowseverywhere, taking different shapes, making it seem almost like daytime. Huge inflatable figures in the front gardens were waving to us: there were Santa Clauses2, of course, chuckling merrily away; and there were also other Christmas figures, like Rudolph3--the red-nosed reindeer--with his red nose gleaming ever so brightly; even Bart Simpson--a character in the famous comedy The Simpsons--had joined the jolly party, wearing a Santas hat. The street set off a lot of "ooh"s and "aah"s inside the car.4 When we left, there was a line of cars in the street, all there to see the lights.

Christmas is the time for exchanging presents. Stephen and Niko had been thinking about their Christmas lists (a list of things they wish "Santa"to give them for Christmas) for a long time. I didnt want to ask for anything, but the Stapczynskis were so kind to "force"me make one list as well (Mr. Stapczynski told me if I didnt make one he would chop off my legs). So I wrote down a couple of things that I would like to have, and gave the list to them--sorry, my mistake--to Santa.

Finally, Christmas Eve came. There was a special Christmas service at the church at 6 p.m. It was certainly a very interesting experience for me. The priest started the service reading and sang out extractions from a holy book--The Divine Liturgy. For several times, we would stand up and pray.

Sometimes, the church choir would start singing. The atmosphere was very quiet and holy. Then there was a ceremony called "The Receiving Communion". People waited in line to "receive"a spoonful of food from the priest. It was a very special Christmas tradition. The food was made from bread and wine. The bread represents the body of Jesus, and the wine represents his blood. After this ceremony, the priest had a speech. He reminded us not to forget the true meaning of Christmas, and let Jesus really live inside us--that is, to love the people around us wholeheartedly. I think that no matter if you are a Christian or not, this principle should be part of our lives. After the priest finished his speech, the part that I enjoyed most came: Christmas carols5. Christmas carols are songs that people sing at Christmas, such as "Jingle Bells", "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "Silent Night"and so on. Some were very merry, others sounded quite holy, but all of them were beautiful. I closed my eyes, and let all the peacefulness and happiness that were in the songs flow through me. What a feeling it was!

We went to sleep earlier that day for we had to get up early on Christmas Day to open our presents. Sure enough, when I was still half-way during a sweet dream, Stephen burst into my room and told me to get up and open presents. There were a huge pile of presents under the Christmas tree, and there was such a mysterious mist shrouding them that made me eager to see what they all were. So one by one, we went through all the presents. Mr. and Mrs. Stapczynski had bought me everything I had written on my Christmas list--and a lot more! I got music CDs, film DVDs, clothes, books I was very happy, and I didnt know how to express my appreciation for what they had done for me.

Stephen and Niko had gotten a lot of presents too, and they had already been trying out their new games!

In the afternoon, we went to Mrs. Stapczynskis brother, Uncle Stans house. They had prepared a marvelous meal for us. A lot of their friends and relatives also came. I saw Stephen and Nikos grandparents, Yiayia and Papou (words of grandma and grandpa in Greek--Mrs. Stapczynskis parents came from Greece, so they like the boys using Greek words to call them). They were very kind to me, and treated me just like one of their family members. We had a very luxurious meal, consisting of turkey, beef, pork, and all sorts of other food.

After the meal, when all the stomachs were full and everyone was feeling drowsy6 from all the food, we just sat around the table and chatted, just like what we Chinese people do at the Spring Festival. After all, Christmas, like the Spring Festival, is a time for us to get away from our busy lives, a time for family gathering, and a time to have some fun.