接近圣誕，很多家庭都裝點上了漂亮的燈飾，下午天黑得早，每天正好一路欣賞著回去，寒冷的冬夜，燈光帶來的不僅僅是節(jié)日的氣氛，遠遠看見自家的燈光就會倍覺溫暖，窗口透出的圣誕樹的燈光更是溫馨。
沒有兩家的燈飾是一樣的，有簡潔的，也有工程浩大，門口燈火通明的，還有整棟屋都投射上星星點點小燈的；門口的樹上、房沿，柵欄都裝點上了燈光；當然，也有極少數(shù)像是隨便掛上去應(yīng)付一下的.......但亮著就好。
這么一比較，門口黑黑的沒有任何裝飾，難免會顯得冷冷清清，你們絕對想不到美國的住宅區(qū)是如何的一個大農(nóng)村，天一黑就真是一片漆黑。幸好有了這些燈光！
這些，全是民宅，都是熱愛生活的人們。
The Story of Christmas
Each year on December 25, most Americans from a Christian background celebrate Christ-mas. Even those who are not religious the rest of the year will have a Christmas tree and give gifts.
The story of Jesus’ birth (as told by Luke in the Bible) may be familiar to you: Jesus’ parents, Joseph and Mary, traveled to Bethlehem to be counted in a tax census. While there, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable, as there were no rooms in any inn. Shepherds heard angels tell them that the son of God had been born. The shepherds visited Jesus then went to tell the world what the angels had told them. Three kings (or Wise Men), following a bright star in the East, traveled for 12 days to visit Jesus, and brought him gifts.
No one knows exactly when Jesus was born. The Bible says there were “shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Bethlehem in December is usually cold and rainy, so some scholars think Jesus was born some months earlier. For centuries, people argued about when to celebrate Jesus’ birth. The Roman Church chose December 25, even though (or because) it was the date of a popular pagan sun celebration.
Because of this pagan and Roman root, Eng-lish religious immigrants to the US in the 1600s refused to celebrate Christmas. The warm and joyful celebration of Christmas by German and Dutch immigrants, however, won popularity in the US by the early 1800s. Today, even in the southern states, the “l(fā)ook” of an American Christmas (with snow and evergreen trees) is clearly northern European.
