【Christmas cards 聖誕賀卡的起源：】
The custom of sending Christmas cards started in Britain in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began. (Helped by the new railway system, the public postal service was the 19th century's communication revolution, just as email is for us today.) As printing methods improved, Christmas cards were produced in large numbers from about 1860. They became even more popular in Britain when a card could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one half-penny - half the price of an ordinary letter.
聖誕賀卡可追溯到1840年統一便士郵政(uniform penny post)的出現，此項改革實現了英國境內郵件遞送費用的標準化。(新鐵路運輸系統爲公共郵政服務系統創造了條件，成就了19世紀的通信革命，與電子郵件對現代人的影響無異)。隨着印刷術的改進，從1860年起，每年會生產大量的聖誕賀卡。當郵寄非密封的卡片只要半便士(普通信件郵費的一半)時，郵寄賀卡變得異常流行。
Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious pictures - Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, or other parts of the Christmas story. Today, pictures are often jokes, winter pictures, Father Christmas, or romantic scenes of life in past times.
從傳統上來講，聖誕賀卡都印有一些基督教方面的圖片，比如聖母瑪麗，約瑟和小耶穌，或者其它包含有聖誕故事意義的圖片。今天的聖誕賀卡通常是笑話、冬季景緻，聖誕老人以及一些反應生活中浪漫場面的圖片。
爲什麼聖誕節要戴紅色的聖誕帽，英國人聖誕節戴紙帽子的悠久傳統
All over Britain on Christmas Day, families can be found sitting around their dining tables enjoying a traditional lunch of roast turkey with all the trimmings - and all, regardless of age, wearing coloured paper hats. It is rumoured that even the Queen wears her paper hat over lunch!
聖誕節當天，全英國的家庭都會坐在餐桌前，吃一頓傳統的聖誕大餐，塞滿了各種餡料的烤火雞。無論年齡老幼，所有人都會在頭上戴一頂彩色紙做成的紙帽子。據說，就連伊莉莎白女王也會戴紙帽子哦!
So why this quaint tradition? Where do these paper hats come from? The answer is the Christmas Cracker.
那爲什麼會有這個古怪的傳統呢?戴紙帽子的傳統來源於哪裏?答案就在另一項聖誕傳統活動——聖誕拉炮!
A Christmas Cracker is a cardboard paper tube, wrapped in brightly coloured paper and twisted at both ends. There is a banger inside the cracker, two strips of chemically impregnated paper that react with friction so that when the cracker is pulled apart by two people, the cracker makes a bang.
聖誕拉炮是用硬紙板做的紙筒，再用色彩鮮豔的彩紙包裹在外面，兩端擰緊。在拉炮裏會有一個爆竹，當兩個人拉動拉炮兩端時，拉炮裏的兩條浸漬紙就會發生摩擦，發出“嘣”的響聲。
Inside the cracker there is a paper crown made from tissue paper, a motto or joke on a slip of paper and a little gift.
拉炮裏會裝有紙做的'皇冠、寫在紙上的名言或笑話，還會有一些小禮物。本站
Christmas crackers are a British tradition dating back to Victorian times when in the early 1850s, London confectioner Tom Smith started adding a motto to his sugared almond bon-bons which he sold wrapped in a twisted paper package.
聖誕拉炮成爲英國傳統的歷史可以追溯到維多利亞時期，約在19世紀50年代早期，倫敦的一個糖果商湯姆-史密斯把寫有名言的紙片放在了他售賣的糖果包裝裏，包裝方式就是在糖果外用紙將兩頭擰緊。
The paper hat was added to the cracker in the early 1900s. The cracker was soon adopted as a traditional festive custom and today virtually every household has at least one box of crackers to pull over Christmas.
到了20世紀初，紙帽子也被放到了聖誕拉炮裏。很快，拉炮就成了英國人過聖誕節的傳統習俗。現在，所有的英國家庭至少都會準備一盒拉炮留到聖誕節時來拉響。
【聖誕英語祝福】
1. May Christmas and the New Year be filled with happiness for you!願你聖誕和新年幸福無盡。
2. It seems that Christmas time is here once again, and it is time again to bring in the New Year. We wish the merriest of Christmas to you and your loved ones, and we wish you happiness and prosperity in the year ahead.聖誕節轉眼又到，又該迎接新的一年了。我們向你及你的親人們致以最美好的聖誕祝福，願你在新的一年裏事業興旺，幸福美滿!
3. A Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.聖誕快樂，新年好!
4. Christmas comes but once a year. But when it comes it brings good cheer.聖誕節一年只有一次，但每次來臨都帶來喜悅。
5. At Christmas and always, may peace and love fill your heart, beauty fill your world, and contentment and joy fill your days.
6. 聖誕的祝福，平日的希冀，願你心境祥和、充滿愛意，願你的世界全是美滿，本站願你一切稱心如意，快樂無比。
7. A Christmas greeting and good wishes to you who is thought about all the year through. Have a beautiful Christmas and a happy New Year.始終思念你，捎來聖誕佳節最美好的祝福，祝聖誕吉祥，新年如意。
8. Merry Christmas and happy New Year!聖誕快樂，恭賀新禧!
9. Much joy to you in the up coming the warmest wishes, happy thoughts and friendly greetings come at Christmas and stay with you all the year through.讓溫馨的祝願、幸福的思念和友好的祝福，在聖誕佳節來到你身邊，伴你左右。
10. A Christmas greeting to cheer you from your daughters. 願女兒的聖誕祝福帶給你快樂。