Comments

Dear Stephen, Thank you very much for your warm letters. They are so full of unique personal attitude and emotion that I kept feeling as if they were actually addressed to me. I've been reading them for a week now and find this page the most inspiring and enriching (for me) of all the BBC Learning content. It's like a door open to let everyone know more and more of each other's life. Best wishes for the coming year to Lucy and you and thanks again. Elena

hi,Stephen,I am delighted when I read your story .I am affected by your joyful atmosphere, despite I have to work on Christmas.Your intriguing letter can take my thought away the stressful life. Thank you and happy new year!

Hi Stephen. Speaking of your recent posts, especially this one, I see how much I have to improve in english. I have made the OET test recently. I have got a satisfactory result in speaking and writing skills but I have failed in reading ( actually, I think I was anxious and made mistakes while passing the answers to the answer sheet). However, in the listening subtest, I have no excuse, I failed because I could not understand well the australian accent as I am used to study american english. The results put me down. I spent many days crying and now I am not feeling confident and I have been avoiding to speak in english with friends in the net. Surprisingly when I saw your beautiful photos and your nice words I had immediately the desire to comment no matter the errors there were in my comment. My Christmas was quite different from yours. I spent it at a wonderful beach with friends and relatives since 22th of december. During the days we played soccer we(women) against the men and many other things like fishing, walking, "frescobol" (it's like tennis but at the beach sand) and barbecue. At night, a lot of music (not only samba and pagode), dance and many... many jokes ( I hid the gifs as a treasure in a site where nobody knew and they managed to find it with a map, tracks and tricks. They had to work hard together to find it as the map was hidden in parts). Then the older relatives arrived in the 24th and we began to listen gospel music. Look how much difference...but I think the happiness is the same. I wish a great new year for all you in UK. God bless you all and give peace to all us around the World.

Oh!Stephen. I usually read your blog! It's very interesting for me to know more and more useful things? such as Advent...and evr. connected with Christmas. Your fotos are wonderful...your blog is super!!1

Hello Stephen! It's been a real pleasure to read your blog and follow your communication with Federico. I must admit that I'm quite addicted to it. :) It's made my language learning process much more lively. Thank you for your commitment, for your elegant letters! Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year! Rõõmsaid jõule ja head uut aastat! (This is how we say it here.)

Thank you for your lovely post about your Christmas day. I love reading about how people celebrate it in other countries. Bon Nadal! (This is how we say it in Catalan.)

Stephen, this just a line to let you know that we also had a cosy evening: with Keith Jarrett's music (absolutely fabulous) and lots of new books!!! Best wishes to you and Lucy

Dear my Teacher, I like your writing style. It is simple but humorous and interesting. Ex:"This is not a good time of year to lose weight" hig hig. Have you been in Vietnam? I hope i can tell you about our Chinese holiday(Tet holiday) in Feb, 07. Let me buy the camera first, then i will take pictures and tell you how Vietnamese people to prepare and enjoy the longest traditional holiday of the year. Do you agree? You described about your Christmas very wonderfully. It wakes up my dreams to visit Europe, hic hic. I wish in 3 years, when i am in Britain, you please invite me to enjoy Christmas dinner with you, don't you? Kindly explain for me, my dear teacher: 2nd sentence of first paragraph: you wrote" But there never is". What’s the meaning? Wish you healthy, happy and wealthy! Tram(Ms)

Hi stephan! merry christmas, how are you today? what about your nice daughther? kiss she for me . Last night has been snowed very much in our province, so I take a day off from my boss and don't go work. I'm with my little son in home. So I decide to use this chance for putting a long comment. In one of latest blogs you say about longest night of year. In our calendar it is the final night of autumn and beginning of Winter season. But I don't know when is the beginning of different season in your calendar. In moslems sunny calendar (our calender) new year day is the beginning of spring season. By the way in persian we say "sale no mobarak" for saying merry new year. which "sale" means year and "no" means new and "mobarak" means merry. Now I return to "YALDA" night, the longest night of year. In IRAN is custom to celebrate this night. So when most chrisian people of the world celebrate new year, in IRAN we have "yalda" eve traditions. All persian families gather in oldest person of family's home or in some freind's home. They are awake until some houre after midnight. Eating water melon is the most important part of customs of "yalda" night. When two person are going to get married, groom's family take, decorated big water melon and some goodies for bride. Also it has been a custom to buy a cake decorated in water melon shape. They looks very delicious. when we near to "YALDA" night, all confectioneries is full of water melon shape cake. it's a pity I didn't take a photo of them. when a girl baby is born in yalda night, usually she is named YALDA. I hope my today comment wasn't boring. take it by now ! it's lunch time and I have to start cooking .

Hi Stephen, Polish Christmas festive, lasting for 3 days, is not so exotic as the Brasilian one for example, but has its own unique flavor. And what makes it special is Christmas Eve begining with the wafer sharing (oplatek) and wishes offering, next we taste the dishes based on traditional recipes varying depending on region but necessarily without meat. Instead, there are a lot of delicious dainties based on mushrooms, fish, poppy seeds, dried fruits etc. I usually do a lot of baking, typical Christmas cakes are: cheese cake (made of white, cottage cheese unavailable in the UK), some kind of ginger (honey based, with cinnamon, raisins, figs, nuts etc), and poppy seeds cake which is a must. And then we open Christmas presents - a moment mostly awaited by children. But for me the most magical event is "pasterka" – a missa at midnight when you can sing the most beautiful Polish carols. In some churches, very few indeed, we also share Christmas wafer – can you imagine the rustle of hundreds tiny wafers broken by people offering their wishes. And this is that very moment that gives you a true feeling of belonging. Yes, the great thing about Christmas is that this is a family time which makes you think about other people, believe in goodness and love. Wesolych Swiat!!!

Hello Stephen, I like your story. That is a very good piece of writing! I admire your simple style. I find it very useful for people who would like to improve their writing style. You have been able to describe the daily activities in a lively way. Thank you!

Hi stephen i am delighted and most inspired to learn english. English is not only a language but also its source of income who knows better. This is my simple thinking. best wishes to learn many things from your writing

The method of learning is excellent. I'm delighted and most inspired to learn English and I learned so many important things from your writing.