What would the Christmas period be without lights? They make our trees twinkle, fill our windows with a welcoming glow and illuminate our streets with Christmas spirit.

You know Christmas is coming when Oxford Street is transformed by sparkly, glowing lights. This year the street is decorated with 27 LED ‘light curtains’ which are draped down the length of the street and made up of a total of 222,000 lights.

The tradition began in 1954, on Regent Street, when local retailers and businesses arranged for a display. The aim was to show that post-war London did not have to look “drab” around Christmas.

To add to the glamour, lights are formally switched on each year by celebrities to large crowds of onlookers. Big names in the past have included Kylie Minogue (Regent Street 1989 and Oxford Street 2015), the Spice Girls (Oxford Street 1996).

By the way, if you fancy a short trip to London to see the lights, they are alight until the 5^th of January.

to twinkle – funkeln to glow – leuchten to illuminate – erhellen transform – verwandeln curtain – Vorhang to drape  – drapieren retailer – Einzelhändler

post-war – Nachkriegszeit drab – farblos celebrities – Prominenz crowd – Menschenmenge by the way – übrigens to fancy sth. – auf etwas Lust haben