Hello Martín,

 

At Christmas I go to Midnight Mass and for New Year’s Eve I have dinner with my family.  And for New Year’s Eve we eat twelve grapes at twelve o’clock.  I have got a present for Three Kings Day.

 

 

Best wishes,

Juan Antonio

 

 

Hello Juan Antonio,

Thanks for your letter. I celebrate christmas with my family at the dock of Buceo (it's a neighbourhood in Montevideo).

 

We have dinner together. In general we eat barbecue or chicken.All the children in the family wait for Father Christmas because he gives us gifts. To celebrate the day of the Three Wise Men we go to Piriapolis. My grandfather has a house near the beach.

 

We finish shool in December because it's summer.When do you have your winter holidays?

 

BYE BYE

 

MARTÍN   

 

 

 

Hello Melina,

 

 

How are you?  I am very good.  The New Years is on 31^st of December.  What is the day of New Years in Uruguay?  Santa Claus comes 24^th of December.  What day does he come in your country?  On New Year’s we eat chicken and fish with family.  In Spain at twelve o’clock we eat twelve grapes.  What do you eat?  Answer my questions, please.

 

 

Goodbye,

Cristóbal

 

Hello! Cristobal

               

I'm fine thanks. On Christmas Eve, my family come to my house. First we eat a starter, then we have  barbecue,

We throw fireworks. At 12pm Father Christmas comes to all the houses with  presents.

On new year's eve we have dinner with my family and friends. We throw fireworks.

We listen to music.And sometimes eat pizza.

Then, the three kings day, we put grass in a bucket for the camels and biscuits for the three kings.

The next morning there are a lot of presents.

 

 

Goodbye

 

Melina

  

 

Hello Nico,

 

 

In this letter I tell you about Christmas in Spain and in my family.  In Spain Christmas is similar of USA, but more little.  There are cakes, parades, presents, decorations . . . but there aren’t snowmen because in Málaga there isn’t snow.  In my family Christmas is very fun, because in my house there are many decorations, presents and cakes.  There is a Christmas tree.  Christmas in Spain in very fun!

 

 

Best wishes,

Jesús

 

 Hi Jesús!

 

On Christmas Eve I meet my family. We eat barbecue, lamb and sausages.

At 12:00 pm father christmas comes and we throw fireworks.

On 5th of January children put grass and water on a plate for the camels. The next morning there are presents  for all the family.

It's very funny.

 

 

Goodbye 

 

Nico  

 

 

 

Hi Pancho!

 

 

In this letter I describe my Christmas holiday and traditions in Spain and I describe my family.

 

 

Christmas here is simple.  We celebrate with family, friends and others.  We eat chicken and soup, and we give presents.  In Christmas we sing Christmas carols, open the presents of Santa Claus, and more presents on Three Kings Day.  We eat twelve grapes on New Year’s Eve. 

 

 

My family is big.  I have got one father he is 44 years old, one mother she is 43 years old, one sister she is 13 years old, and one brother he is 9 years old.

 

 

How do you celebrate Christmas?

 

 

Goodbye,

José Luis

 

Hi Jose Luis, 

 

 

I celebrate Christmas with my family on 24th December.

I have dinner with my family. fter that father christmas arrives with presents.

In new year I have dinner with my family and we throw fireworks.

bye bye bye bye

 

Pancho

 

 

Hi Martín,

 

 

How are you?  I’m fine, but Christmas is here in the short time.  Christmas in Spain is fantastic.  We put lots of decorations and a Christmas tree in the house.  In this time, I drink hot chocolate.  The wise men are:  Merchor, Gaspar, and Baltasar.

 

 

The best in Christmas are the presents.  I ask for Super Smash Brothers brown and the Gears of War.

 

 

Goodbye, Martín, and Happy Christmas!

 

 

Juanma

 

Hi Juanma,

 

I'm fine as well. Christmas is also coming up very soon around here, but it's very different from yours, we're in summer so we don't drink hot chocolate, we drink sidra instead.

We haven'`t started Christmas decorations yet, we set up the trees on December

I LOVE THE PRESENTS!!!! I haven't decided what I want yet but I think I want a pair of Nike snikers.... If I do well at school I'll get them as a Christmas present

 What is Super Smash Brothers Brown and the Gears of War?

Well, I have to go, hope to hear from you soon.

 

Merry Christmas

 

Martin

 

 

 

Hey, my friend!

 

 

How are you?  I’m sure you’re very happy there in Uruguay, and more now, that Obama has won the elections (ha, ha!).  What a elections, 22 months . . .

 

 

Ok!  It’s November (I finished the summer holidays in September) and now, we have to talk about . . .

 

 

CHRISTMAS!!!!

 

 

(Jingle bells, jingle bells . . . )  Wow!  I’m happy.

 

 

Tell me:  How do you celebrate Christmas in your country?

 

 

I think everybody celebrate those holidays with the same traditions:

 

 

●  24^th of December:  Christmas Eve (turkey, family having dinner at the same table and watching TV while one sleeps).

 

 

●  25^th of December:  Christmas Day!  (you have made the Christmas tree and the nativity scene, so you receive presents of Santa Claus).  My family doesn’t put a nativity scene but we like the Christmas tree.

 

 

●  31^st of December:  Wow!  Happy New Year!  (turkey again, everybody watches TV, eating grapes and when the twelve bell ringings are finished, let’s drink champagne!)

 

 

●  (Uff, I’m tired!)  5^th of January!:  (let’s go to the “stupid parade” and take only two sweets . . . )

 

 

●  And finally 6^th of January (you get up and discover three or four presents more for you).   The Three Kings or Wise men.

 

 

Well!  Those are the fantastic Spanish traditions . . . Do you do something special on Christmas?  Me not.  Will you ask for something to Santa Claus?  Me YES!  I need a good schoolbag and a pen driver (I’m a dealer of music and information, because I don’t have internet)

 

 

Well, that’s my horrible letter for beginning well this year.  (I’m writing this at 00:25 in the morning!) 

 

 

With love,

Luna

 

 

Hi Luna!..

 

I´m fine ^^, waiting for hollidays ;w;....

How are you going at school?  I wish that you aer going well xDD

 

Yup, it´s november :3 and now i´m near hollidays wiiiiih! Next week (29th november) I´m going to finish high school and take my anime dvds...sorry, I meant say "take my swiming suit and the ugly sun cream"...xD (but I wish to stay at home watching anime and hearing "An cafe" all day xD)

Well, in Uruguay, we celebrate like this:

 

Let me se...in the 24th of december its Chrstmas Eve,,so in the night we eat barbecue (usually) or if not, we eat chiken...and of yourse "turron" and "pudding (when is made of chocolate its..mmm...yummy)"...well, that day, we wait untill it is 12:00 (CHRISTMAS!) and we recive present haahaa...

 

then, in the 31st of december we do the same, but without the presents (TOT) xDD...but the meaning is to be with family..err...thats what "THE PEOPLE" say...owo...well, so we wait again untill 12:00 and at that time, we say "Happy New Year" and go to sleep (XD thats what I do)..and I forgot to say that people throw fireworks (I hate those"fireworks" ´cause the sound is to loud TOT! and I feel scared ;w;)...

Then in the 1st January, we have lunch with our family and..thats all x3...

 

 

Then on the 5th January we put our shoes and the other day (6th january) "oooh! the 3 wise men came!! PRESENTS! PRESENTS! XDDD...

 

amm, and I think thats all ^^....well so...Merry christmas, Happy New Year, and I hope you have beautyful presents nwn!!...

 

amm well, I dont know If I´m going to ask for someting ... but of course I love anime so...*O*!!

 

well, write soon!!!..

 

PD: I wish you can understand my letter, because I usually use too many emoticons xDD...Its a custom I have x33..

 

BELEN

 

 

Hi again,

 

 

We start again with the emails.  I’ve had a great holiday, but we started school a month ago.  In this e-mail I’m going to tell you about our Christmas traditions.

 

 

For us, Christmas is a holiday and we celebrate that Jesus was born.  On 24^th December we celebrate Christmas Eve.  We eat with our family all together.  On 25^th December, we celebrate Christmas Day.  In my family, we meet in a place for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We are around forty people, we go to a restaurant and we have lunch on Christmas Eve.  We sleep in a hotel and then, on Christmas Day, we eat at our family’s house.

 

 

On 31^st December we celebrate New Year’s Eve.  We usually eat together and at twelve o’clock we eat twelve grapes, one for each bell.  This night we usually go to parties with friends and celebrate New Year.  On 1^st January we celebrate New Year’s Day.  We sometimes eat with the family, but sometimes sleep because we pass all the night awake!

 

 

On 6^th January we celebrate Three Kings Day.  Children write letters to the three kings and they give them presents.  On 5^th January we have a parade with a lot of beautiful floats.  People on the floats throw sweets.

 

 

We decorate our house, too.  We put a Christmas tree and a nativity scene.

 

 

I’m waiting for your answer.

 

 

See you soon,

José Manuel

 

Hi Jose Manuel,

                       On Christmas day, my family and I meet to eat food of any kind. We also play football and basketball with some friends from my neibourghood and my team usually wins.

     My brother and I decorate a Christmas tree and a Nativity Scene and the following day there are a lot of presents in my house.

     At12 p.m., people throw fireworks and the old people watch this and eat special cakes.

     On 31st December there's a fireworks display. This fireworks are big and they fly  very high, so all the people can see.

     On 6th of January it's the Khree kings day and the children write letters so that The Three Kings give them presents.

 

Bye bye,

your penfriend Lucas

 

 

Hi Federico!

 

 

How are you?  I’m good, but a little sad because I started the classes at high school.  This is the first letter since the last letter.  In this letter I talk to you about the Christmas holidays.

 

 

Here, the Christmas holidays are from Christmas Day to Three Kings Day.

 

 

In Spain, people meet with their family and have dinner together.  They do it on Christmas Eve.  On New Year’s Eve, people eat twelve grapes all together.  With this action, we say “goodbye” to the old year and “hello” to the new year.  After the people eat grapes, they go to a big party. 

 

 

On Three Kings Day, on 6^th of January, the children have got some presents.  These are brought by the Three Kings.

 

 

Also, in Christmas people spend a lot of money.  They spend it in the nativity scene, food, Christmas tree, decorations, presents . . .

 

 

I love Christmas holidays because in these holidays I meet with all my family and enjoy together.

 

 

And, how do you celebrate Christmas?  Which are the most important dates?

 

 

Bye bye,

Your penpal María

 

Hi! María

 

I'm sorry about you because you are going to start the high school year, on the other hand I'm very happy because I'm going to finish the classes in two weeks.

 

In Uruguay we celebrate Chrismas Eve having dinner with all the family and we throw fireworks all the night, it's very funny. We decorate the house and we wait for Ffather cCrismas. We also decorate a Chrismas tree.

 

On New Year's Eve we have dinner all the family together and we wait to throw the fireworks until 12 pm.

 

On the Three Whise Men day we buy presents to our family and we open it in the morning. Sometimes we put grass and water to the camels.

 

Bye bye your penpal Federico.

 

Hi Eugi!!

 

 

How are you?  I’m fine.  This summer holiday I went to Paris and Madrid with my family.  Where are you going this holiday?  Are you meet new people?

 

 

I want to talk about this Christmas.  In Spain, we celebrate on 24^th December Christmas Eve.  This night Santa Claus come to the house and put presents in the door.  We have dinner with the family and prepare a special food. 

 

 

On 31^st December we celebrate New Year’s Eve and we have dinner with the family.  When it is twelve o’clock we eat twelve grapes with twelve bells.  And then I go to parties with my friends and celebrate the new year.

 

 

The next day, 1^st January, is the new year and we go to eat with my family in Palo, Málaga.

 

 

On 5^th January is the day of the three kings and the children get up early and open the presents (the Three Kings are the parents).  Then my family and me go to eat in Málaga or other city and the children play with their new toys.

 

 

I love this day.  It is beautiful!  You can receive more things than you like.

 

 

Best wishes,

Isa

 

 

Hi Isa!

 

It seems to be that you had a great time on your holidays!

I love Paris but I´ve never been there.

Well, I think that in this country we celebrate christmas similar to in yours.

In the night of 24th December I have  dinner with my family, and Santa Claus comes here too. We don´t eat grapes but I know that in your country you do it because I saw it on TV.

In New Year we celebrate  with my family too and young people go to parties and dancing.

Right now I´m finishing high school! I´m so happy hahaha! It´so hot here.

 

 byebye

kisses

 

Write soon!

 

 

Euge!

 

 

Hi Agus!

 

 

How long!  What’s up?  I’m fine, but I’m very busy with school.  And you?

 

 

Christmas is a party for be the family together.

 

 

On Christmas Eve, I have dinner at my cousin’s house with all my family.  We normally eat seafood soup and lamb.  We sing and dance.

 

 

On Christmas Day, my cousins and me go to a games room.  We play bowling.  We pass very well the day.

 

 

On New Year’s Eve, I’m with my parents’ friends.  They have a party and it’s very fun.  We eat the twelve grapes at midnight.

 

 

On New Year’s Day we go to Carratraca, to have lunch in a restaurant.  I call my friends of Carratraca and we go out at night.

 

 

My friends and me do an invisible friend, and on the 6^th of January we give the presents.

 

 

On Wise men Day, we eat the  “roscón” of the kings . . . mmmm!  It’s delicious!!!!  We go out into the street and see the parade floats throwing sweets.  We get all the sweets that we can.

 

 

On 5^th of January the children write a letter.  In this letter they write all the presents that they want.

 

 

 

On 6^th January we get up very early to open the presents.

 

 

Best wishes,

Myriam

 

Hi Mita,

 

Thanks for your e-mail. I`m fine. I`m also very busy with my final tests.

 

In Uruguay we celebrate Christmas in a similar way to Spain. I think the reason is that most of our grandparents came from Spain and Italy.

On Christmas Eve most families have dinner together. At 12 pm thy have a toast and the children wait for Father Christmas because he brings lots of presents.

In genral people eat specialmeals and for the toat they have 'turrón' (the recipe comes from Spain) and 'Panettone' (the recipe is Italian).

After midnight young people go dancing. The following day (Christmas Day) families gather at midday to have lunch.

I spend Christmas with my family in a province called 'Paysandú' which is on the north of Uruguay.

There I meet my cousins, my uncles and aunts and the rest of the family.

 

Write back,

 

Kisses,

 

Agus