It's Christmas time again and in the spirit of the season, Yabla has three new videos with a Yuletide theme. Let's take a quick look at some highlights and expand our holiday vocabulary.

The literal translation of the German version of "Christmas Eve" is "Holy Eve": der Heilige Abend or even der Heiligabend.

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Gehen Sie da direkt am Heiligen Abend zu Ihrem Sohn?

Are you going to your son's house right on Christmas Eve?

Caption 31, Weihnachtsinterviews - Diane in Karlsruhe

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Another holiday eve with which you may be less familiar is Saint Nicholas' Eve: der Nikolausabend. You can read more about the European traditions associated with this holiday on Wikipedia. 
 

Bald ist Nikolausabend da.

Soon Saint Nicholas' Eve will be here.

Caption 11, Weihnachtslieder - Lasst uns froh und munter sein

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The phrase "Bitte nehmen Sie Platz" is an invitation to sit down or literally "take a place." And although das Plätzchen is indeed the diminutive of der Platz, in this case we're not talking about sitting down at all — we're talking about baked goods! 
 

Ich will ein Plätzchen nehmen.

I want to take a cookie.

Caption 28, Weihnachtslieder Detlev Jöcker - Heute wird gebacken

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Further Learning
Practice your German by singing a Christmas song or two for your family and friends, and find even more videos about Weihnachten on Yabla German.