3 . Use this list of winter festivals to plan your trip or plan around them, as many of these festivals will tie up transport and accommodations and drive up prices. It’s all up to you:either plan your travel dates around them, or arrive early enough to jump into the festive atmosphere!

Lighting Festival

A day-trip away from South Korea’s capital Seoul, the Garden of Morning Calm is a must-see during the Festival. The lights there cover an area of some 330,000 square meters, using 30,000 colorful LED lights hanging from the trees. Wander around the fairy-like wonderland created by the lights — through such fields like Bonsai Garden, Moonlight Garden, and the Garden of Eden.

·Where: Gapyeong County, South Korea

·When: December — Mid-March

Harbin Ice Festival

Millions of tourists visit this icy festival every year, drawn by the massive ice sculptures that decorate the fairgrounds next to Songhua River. The sculptures, ice palaces, mazes and slides are simply massive in scale, constructed from some 260,000 cubic yards of ice blocks harvested from the river. They range in size from life-scale carvings of animals and fantastic creatures, to massive 250-foot structures that tower over the crowds.

·Where: Harbin, China

·When: January 5 — February 5

Sapporo Snow Festival

Japan’s biggest winter festival has expanded in size and scope since its first celebration in 1950. The Festival covers two main sites in Sapporo. The centerpiece Odori Park site features some 100 ice sculptures dazzlingly lit up after dark. The Susukino district site features a smaller scale of ice sculptures decorating the district. The sculptures cover animals both real and fantastic, including anime-based creatures like Pokemon. Visitors can also enjoy snow mazes, street food, musical performances and skating on the ice rink near Odori Park.

·Where: Sapporo, Japan

·When:February 4-1l

Sky Lantern Festival

The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in Taiwan, China is Taiwan’s most visited lantern festival, lighting the skies with floating lanterns bearing messages for the gods. Its counterpart in the Yangshui District favors a noisier kind of illumination — the Tainan Yanshui Fireworks Display takes place at Tainan’s Wumiao Temple, where locals dare to be hit by small fireworks as a test of their strength and to ward off evil.

·Where: Pingxi and Yangshui, Taiwan, China

·When: February

My American friend     1     (kind) invited me to her home     2     (celebrate) this year's Thanksgiving Day. I     3    （experience）my first ever Thanksgiving. On the day，we watched the Thanksgiving parade（游行）in New York City on TV. My friend's family sat     4     front of the television. They came from all over the States and enjoyed being together.     5     (look) at their happy faces, I thought it was really a holiday for families, just like the Mid-Autumn Festival in China.

That evening, we had a big Thanksgiving dinner. This     6     (tradition) meal included roast turkey, mashed potatoes and assorted vegetables. When the dishes and plates arrived at the table, we started to take turns to say the things we were thankful for. This, in fact, is a Thanksgiving tradition     7     many families practice in the US.

Then, the food     8     (pass) around the table and we all ate far too much. I also had desserts with my dinner. There were different kinds of pies, such as apple pies, pumpkin pies and coconut pies.

If one mentions Thanksgiving, one must talk about Black Friday, the Friday that follows Thanksgiving Day. Shops across the United States will give their     9     (big) sales of the whole year on Black Friday. Many people go crazy about     10     .I saw many long queues outside the shops on that day.