28/12/2013

Having a good old moan

Dear students,

I'd like you to write about something which irritates you about the way we celebrate Christmas.

You can post it in the comments section.

If you need some inspiration, you can listen to this article from British Council's Learn English.

16 comments:

Alvaro Tejedo Meneses said...

What irritates me most about the way we celebrate Christmas is our eating habits.
We prepare so much food on the special days that we are eating remnants the rest of the days.
In the begining of the holidays, we enjoy a lot all sort of delicacies.
But after a few days, we come to hate the reheated hake or young lamb.
Sometimes, the next special day comes with no time to finish all the food and we have to overeat in order not to waste it.
In any event, the formerly delicacies are finally seen as an expensive mess spoling all the pleasure of eating.

Elena Hernandez said...

I do not like Christmas long. I think it's a time to every kind of excess and conspicuous consumption. . Since the month of September the stores begin to advertise their products such as lotto, toys, food, drink, dresses, fragrances etc. and they are continually flooding the TV channels with their ads. Never mind that millions of people in the world can not just eat. In the first world we have to spend and spend because it's Christmas. Also everyone seems to want to prove how good he/she is, what he/she loves to others, even after the holidays they don’t see each other in the whole year. Families gather because it is traditional, almost compulsory, although often tensions and misunderstandings arise.
Christmas for a few days is everywhere and then everything returns to its normal course. That's all until next year.
This is a point of view of an adult, who have to cook for many people these days and working for everyone enjoy which is really stressful. Who really enjoy Christmas are children, because it is a time of holidays gifts and illusion for them, and young people who have no obligations.

Javier Moreno said...

Here we have had another Christmas time again. Oh My God!
In this time of the year it seems that everybody leaks love and sugar by every single skin pore. There is no one that doesn’t give huge hugs and kisses all around and doesn´t say greeting words while actually is lying through their teeth.
Basically, what I hate most about Christmas it´s the hypocrisy of the people. I can´t bear people playing a role of tenderness when they are really the same sort of plain person the rest of the year. It really gets up my nose!
It´s totally infuriating to know that this kind of people are going to behave in the same way the following January. Please, let’s live in congruence with ourselves!
I want to apologize for all those people that are honest and true-hearted because these words are not addressed to them. Everybody already knows!

Berta Lerín said...

What I hate most about the way we celebrate Christmas is its frantic rhythm. I mean, once you start thinking you are getting used to the presents buying, the enormous amounts of food, the city lights, dinner parties, family parties, after-party parties...it has come to an end!
Then you realize a new year has arrived, full of new good purposes and enthusiasm, and next day you have to go back to work and responsibilities again, and that you haven’t had time to relax, but instead you’re more exhausted than even before!
It’s all so fast and barely condensed in a few days, in which you go here and there, buying presents, partying with family and friends, eating and drinking too much and sleeping not enough, and have to combine with work and responsibilities.
I wish it lasted longer so we could sleep and relax more, to receive the new year with quite a lot more energy!

Rosa de pablo said...

I hate Christmas as in my opinion, all in these days is hypocrisy and obligation.
Why do months go by without meeting friends and suddenly every day is plenty of lunches and dinners with them ? Why do we have to compete with our in- laws to see who is better cooking- or similar things- instead of having a quiet night ? Why do the most beautiful white people have photos taken next to the most black and undernourished children?... why yes, all of that ( and worse things) happens in Christmas, but for me the worst of all is that I miss the happiness and the illusion I used to feel in Christmas when I was younger and I wonder why I lost it.

Unknown said...

Christmas time has passed!
Now we can continue our lifes of routine and hard work. I like these days because there is always an excuse to don´t work as hard as usual.
But, I must say that it annoys me to have so many leftovers every meal we have, knowing that there are so many people with so few to eat, or to receive so many present when a lot of people receive nothing.
Going shopping is something compulsory in this time. Do we forget there are people with no house, no food, nor money at all?
In resume, this is the time of hypocrisy and forgetfulness.

Cristina Martín said...

What I consider the worst of Christmas is the exorbitant consumption and the eventual and ephemeral solidarity that takes place during this period.
People seem to concentrate all their purchases during Christmas holidays, as if they wouldn´t never have time for it before. It annoys me to think that they get carried away by all the publicity campaign that appears these days around us.
And the other thing that gets on my nerves is the fact that some people only experiment solidarity in Christmas. It´s as if they´d like to show a nice image of themselves that it doesn´t go with them the rest of the year...It´s a pity!

Susana Villar Giménez said...

I don´t know if finally, as surveys predicted, Spaniards have spent at Christmas around 670 € per family. I personally hate shopping in these days: too much people spending too much money, long queues everywhere, commitment purchases… but just what I can´t bear the most is to shopping under the torture of the stores´ background music. The rest of the year I can hardly notice it, but at Christmas I can´t help hearing all kind of Carols, from the classic “Silent night” to the modern “All I want for Christmas is you”. It gets on my nerves! Not only because I am constantly listening the same type of songs but also because, even when I go outside, I can keep listening them.

Paula said...

I have had Christmas up to here with gifts, meals,shopings,...
Buying and cooking almost all days from 22th of december until Magic King's day get on my nerves.For example, thinking about a special christmas gift for my sister in low gets up my nose, and also thinking about what should be cooking every day, it is so infuriating¡ I agree with the man's speech, because from the begining of october there are lots of commercial advertisements of parfums and toys on tv, on billboards, at commercial centers..., and in a few days I am ready fed up. You can see all family, and above all, my children, but in the middle of the stress of these hollidays, they took their flight and dissapeared, without having spent enough time being alone with them.Today, I am sick and tired of Christmas hollidays¡

conchita said...

I have had Christmas up to here with gifts, meals,shopings,...
Buying and cooking almost all days from 22th of december until Magic King's day get on my nerves.For example, thinking about a special christmas gift for my sister in low gets up my nose, and also thinking about what should be cooking every day, it is so infuriating¡ I agree with the man's speech, because from the begining of october there are lots of commercial advertisements of parfums and toys on tv, on billboards, at commercial centers..., and in a few days I am ready fed up. You can see all family, and above all, my children, but in the middle of the stress of these hollidays, they took their flight and dissapeared, without having spent enough time being alone with them.Today, I am sick and tired of Christmas hollidays¡

Amaya Ruiz said...

Christmas time has finished at last!
Christmas time is my least favorite part of the year. Everybody must to be happy in these days, must to decorate their house with Christmas baubles, must to reunite with their family even if they don´t have a good relationship, must to cook like if the end of the world had come. These situations gets on my nerves! Why do we continue doing all of this every single year?
But what it really freak me out is to try to find the perfect present for everyone. We are bombarded with advertisements since November. Hundred of toys, perfumes, clothes, etc. And if The Three Wise Men were not enough we add Father Christmas!
I´ve had it up to here! Don´t get me wrong, but don´t you think we have lost the real meaning of Christmas time?

Consuelo Carlón said...

I do agree with the previous comments and according with what I’ve read we all dislike Christmas time. To point out another thing that irritates me about Christmas I’ d say I cannot stand Santa, I only see the fatty red dressed man as an intruder in our tradition. As long as the only Christmas I’ve liked were those of my childhood, when we were expecting anxiously the Three Wise Men and the parade every 5th of January. I don’t see Santa’s role in our way of celebrating Christmas and I don’t even have a memory of him until nowadays. For me he is only a commercial character that compels us to consume and expend more.

Almudena Campillo said...

I do like Christmas time!!! The people are more kindly and friendly in this time of the year. The work is more relaxing, there aren´t traffic to go to work, in general people only have to work part time, eating really good food almost all days, etc. The only thing that get on my nerves are the prices of the children’s presents. Why on Earth are so expensive!! To be honest I think are overpriced. The toys factories know perfectly that all of us would pay till the last penny in our pocket to see a smile on our children. Doesn´t matter if later we have to work extra hours at work to pay the overdraft. But our children will have a super expensive toy that probably will play more with the box than with the toy.

Susana Navalon said...

At least, it has finished... I am as fed up as the rest of my mates but the worse thing is the weight I put on...

Maite López Cisnal said...



Who has said that everyone has to be happy in Christmas?
What annoys me most about Christmas is the obligation of being happy or pretending the happiness or harmony that we don’t feel.
I can’t understand why in Christmas is compulsory to have a family get together, with relatives that maybe you don’t see the rest of the year and they can even kick a fuss in the meeting.
Neither I can understand why each celebration implies an overeating.
Finally, it gets on my nerves the obligation of giving or receiving presents, which most of the time we don’t like and we don’t enjoy doing them what suppose a waste of time and money.
Perhaps Christmas hasn’t changed and we are who has suffered the changes. We have lost the candidness we had in our childhood in which we never realised the problems that surrounded us although they were there.
If at least the Three Wise Men existed …..

José María García said...

Christmas is a good time for enjoying with your family in parties and spending your free time practicing your favourite hobbies. It’s time of good wishes and everybody looks like friendly and charming with the rest of people. However, this time in my opinion, has several disadvantages which normally annoy me a lot. In Christmas most of people usually turn into eager customers who looking for gifs for their friends and relatives. First of all, as a result of this fact the streets are plenty of cars that normally provoke annoying traffic jams. Secondly, the shops are normally crowded and you have a lot of problems caused by this situation. For example, long queues of costumers waiting for paying the things that they have previously bought. This situation is very annoying for me, because I always hate wasting my time waiting in a long queue when I can’t avoid buying this thing later. Finally, another thing which annoys me a lot it’s to stay inside a very crowded shop, because I don’t like staying in public places plenty of people especially when everyone is speaking loudly or making too much noisy, moreover, these people normally make the articles untidy and this bad habit is another thing which I don’t like anything and irritates me easily.