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這幾天天氣又變涼了，才忽然感受到聖誕節的氣氛，今天Riana要跟我們分享她的聖誕節趣事，聖誕節到底要怎麼過呢？趕緊來計劃一下吧！

Every week on Thursday I meet up with my friends, Joanna and Xiao Hua, to have language exchange. We usually meet up in a coffee shop such as Dante (丹堤) or Starbucks (統一星巴克). ！

First we order some coffee or cakes. Now that Christmas (聖誕節) is coming, Starbucks has some really awesome coffees that you can try. Whenever I order coffee, unsweetened latte is definitely my favorite. But recently I tried the gingerbread latte (畺汁那堤), which tastes of cinnamon and nutmeg and Christmas all in one! Both Joanna and Xiao Hua have Starbucks cups, so whenever they use their own cups instead of the stores, they can save NT$10 each time. I'm thinking of buying a cup now because we go there so often!！

For a normal latte though, I prefer going to a cute café. Usually chain stores' coffee are ok, but to enjoy a truly skillfully made coffee you need to go somewhere quieter where the heart and soul goes into making coffee. Maybe I will introduce you to some of my favorite cafes in Taiwan in another article.！

But Christmas is coming, and so the last conversation with my language exchange partners was about celebrations. I think that Taiwanese people don't really celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, but if you are not religious (like me) then it is a time of peace and goodwill. People don't go to work and instead spend time with their family. During Christmas I'm always merry-making with my family, eating special meals together and giving gifts to everyone. We play with the younger children and make Christmas day truly special for them, because for children Christmas is a magical day filled with laughter, good things and family. Personally, I think giving gifts is a little bit silly, because many of these gifts we don't need. I enjoy cooking special meals for my family and singing Christmas carols with the children. One year I even made a gingerbread house and decorated it to look like a snow-covered cottage!！

I think this year I will travel to Taichung (台中) to see my “Taiwanese Family”, and eat a special dinner with them. I will call my family back in Australia and wish them “Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!”… already I'm making a special package of gifts from Taiwan to send them. I think it will bring them joy and surprise to taste some special Taiwanese foods and see some interesting photos and toys. It will be a special Christmas – my first time to celebrate without my family!

Joanna told me that Chinese New Year (春節) is probably the biggest celebration for Taiwanese. When I first came to Taiwan, I arrived just before the Chinese New Year. It was so exciting to travel around with my friend and visit her family. I feel like I tried so many Taiwanese foods, and everyday I had to eat so much! It felt like it was Christmas every day for a week… I think that Taiwanese are very lucky to celebrate such a festivity with their friends and family for a whole week!
The traditions are also very interesting to learn – like how you need to visit the older people in your family on the first day, then for married daughters to visit their parents on the second, and so on. I think that Chinese New Year is much more interesting and meaningful than Christmas, because of the many traditions and family-orientated activities!

看完了文章，今天晚上的聖誕派對有靈感了嗎？聖誕節必備的薑餅、肉桂、肉豆蔻你準備好了嗎？出門狂歡前，先複習一下今天的單字吧！

awesome..........令人敬畏的

gingerbread......薑餅

cinnamon.........肉桂

nutmeg.............肉豆蔻

skillfully...........巧妙的

goodwill...........善意

merry-making...宴會

carol..................讚美詩/頌

cottage..............農舍

orientated..........取向