A powerful arctic winter storm will make its way through the US and Canada this week, bringing with it crippling snow and freezing temperatures.

The “once-in-a-generation” storm began in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, and has made its way east through the Rockies as of Wednesday morning.

It is then expected to hit the Great Lakes later this week, and will become a “bomb cyclone” by early Friday.

The storm has already disrupted travel for many ahead of the Christmas holidays.

Big US airlines like United, American, Delta and Southwest have issued fee waivers to travellers who wish to reschedule their flights in anticipation of the big storm.

In Kenya, Christmas is a time when families try and be with one another.

Many people travel from cities, back to the villages where the main part of their family might live. (Although there are more whole big families now living in cities so they don’t have to travel!)

This is often the only time large families will see each other all year, so it is very important.

People try to be home for Christmas Eve, so they can help with the Christmas preparations. Houses and churches are often decorated with colorful balloons, ribbons, paper decorations, flowers and green leaves. For a Christmas Tree, some people will have a Cyprus tree.

In cities and large towns, stores can have fake snow outside them!

Many people, especially Christians, will go to a Midnight Church Service to celebrate Christmas.

The service will have Christmas hymns, carols & songs; and often nativity plays (showing the Christmas Story), poems & dances.

After the service, people go home and party really starts – you might well not sleep that night! In cities, going carol singing is also becoming more popular.

Some people will also go to Church on Christmas morning (if you haven’t fallen asleep from partying all night!)

Popular Christmas foods include a barbecue which can be a goat, sheep, beef or chicken. This is eaten with rice and chapati flat bread.

The big Christmas meal is called ‘nyama choma’.

Only small gifts are normally exchanged and sometimes food and gifts are provided by missionary organisations.

The day after Christmas, Boxing Day, is also a public holiday in Kenya. It’s another day of celebrating, seeing more friends and family (or sleeping!)

In Swahili/Kiswahili (a language spoken in Kenya) Happy/Merry Christmas is ‘Heri ya Krismasi’ and the response is ‘Wewe pia’ (you also). In the Maasai language (also called Maa or Kimaasai) it’s ‘nchipai e Kirismas’.

Going-to-the-Sun Mountain is an interesting mountain which is 2940 m high (9,647 feet) and it is located in Glacier National Park, within the United States of America which is also one of the most famous and iconic mountains in the park.

Going-to-the-Sun Mountain (henceforth, GTTS) may take the United States’s “most words in a summit name” award.

The mountain was named by James Willard Schultz in 1888 and its hulking, disintegrating form is as complicated as its name.

During the winter of 1887-1888, James Willard Schultz, an early hunting guide in the St. Mary Lakes region and his family built a cabin on the north shore of Upper St. Mary Lake.

While hunting on Red Eagle Mountain with his Pikuni friend, Tail-Feathers-Coming-Over-the-Hill, gave this mountain the name it bears today.

Naming the moutain by James Willard Schultz for what he claimed was an old Indian legend, in which Napi, the Old Man, came down from his home in the sun to help his people, the Blackfeet, out of their difficulties. When his work was done, he returned to his home in the sun, up the slopes of this mountain.

This legend however, was probably invented by the white men, and may have originated within Schultz, who was not above flowering up his stories to make them have more reader appeal. Alternatively, numerous Blackfeet Indian legends are credited with the origins of the mountains’ name.

Used by the Blackfeet as a location for vision quests, it is one of the most accessible major mountain peaks in Glacier National Park. According to several sources, the actual Blackfeet name for the mountain is The-Face-of-Sour-Spirit-Who-Went-Back-to-The-Sun-After-His-Work-Was-Done Mountain, in explanation of the snowfields on the mountainside which, as viewed from the west, make the outline of a face.

Lake Hévíz is a geological active natural thermal lake, which is also the biggest in Europe, but second biggest in the world, located in the vicinity of the City of Hévíz, within the western part of Hungary.

With a surface area of about 47,500 square km (18,340 square mi), it is close to the western end of Lake Balaton, and the flow of water in Lake Hévíz is very strong, which is believed by the locals that the water is completely replenished every single day.

Surrounded by some 60 hectares (148 acres) of nature conservation area, the springs of different temperatures diffuse in a narrow cave, from where the water reaches the lake and has a constant temperature of about 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

Once in the lake, the temperature of the water is somewhat 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), however, in winter the temperature reaches around 22 degrees Celsius (71 degrees Fahrenheit) making it very pleasant even in winter time.

The depth of the lake varies, whereas along the shores it is some 130 cm (51 inches) and the deepest part is the center of the lake which is measured to be at 38 meters (125 feet).

The flora and fauna are quite unique due to the temperature and chemical composition of the water, even though it is slightly radioactive and contains reduced sulfuric compounds as well as oxygen in solution, and there are several species that are endemic to the lake.

The largest group of life form in the lake, besides the humans, is the bacteria that is supposed to has a curative effect.

There are also plenty of water lilies that are dotting the lake, which were brought to Hungary at the end of 19th century, supporting the eco-life, with leaves slowing down evaporation, and creepers protecting the medicinal mud on the bottom of the lake.

Nonetheless, the thermal baths that are built on the lake offer every visitor a unique experience from Hungary, and as the bathing is the main activity, together with mud packing and massages, it will offer peace and tranquility to those who need to calm their nerves a bit, as well as it will be beneficial to those suffering from rheumatic diseases and locomotor disorders.

In Belarus, the time over Christmas and New Year is called ‘Kaliady’.

Kaliady starts and ends with two Christmases and has the New Year celebrations in the middle!

It starts on December 25th when Catholics and Protestants in Belarus celebrate Christmas; the big New Year’s Eve celebrations are in the middle; and it ends on January 7th when Christmas is celebrated in the Orthodox church (most people in Belarus celebrate Christmas using the Orthodox date).

During the time that Belarus was part of the Soviet Union, Kaliady and Christmas was not celebrated very much, if at all. New Year was made into the important celebration. But now Christmas celebrations are coming back, although New Year is still the bigger holiday.

Kaliady is also the name for an old pre-soviet tradition where people would dress up and go around their neighbors singing songs – like carol singing. This is still done in some rural villages but isn’t common anymore.

Many of the ‘traditions’ that most people associate with Christmas are now linked to the New Year celebrations. There are New Year Trees (sometimes called holiday trees), and gifts are often put under the tree and are exchanged/opened on New Year’s Eve.

New Year and Christmas lights are put in towns and cities throughout Belarus.

It’s traditional to have three important meals during Kaliady, which are known as ‘Kućcia’ (or ‘Kutia’ or ‘Kutsia’) meals; this is what Orthodox Christmas Eve is called and is also the name of a porridge which is eaten at the Christmas Eve meal.

The first meal is known as the ‘fasting’ or ‘Lent’ Kućcia and the last meal is the ‘Hungry’ Kućcia. They are meant to be very simple with no meat or fat in them.

There are normally 12 dishes at the Orthodox Christmas Eve Kućcia to represent Jesus’s 12 disciples.

As well as Kućcia porridge the other dishes will items like pancakes, fish and mushrooms; as well as kisel (a dessert made of oatmeal fruit, berries and potato starch sometimes served with milk). Sometimes straw is put under the tablecloth to help people remember that Jesus was placed in a manger as a baby (this is also done in neighbouring countries like Poland and Russia).

The middle Kućcia, eaten on New Year’s Eve and called the ‘great’ Kućcia, is a big feast. Some people will only have the main Kućcia on New Year’s Eve! One vital dish is ‘Olivje’ or ‘Olivier’ salad; it made from potatoes, eggs, green peas, pickles, mayonnaise and ham. Other salads like ‘Shuba’ (diced pickled herring with layers of grated vegetables, chopped onions and mayonnaise) are also popular.

Tinned peas are very important and feature in many of the great Kućcia dishes! Mandarin oranges are also normally eaten during New Year’s Eve.

At about 11.50pm, there is a short speech by the Belarusian President shown on the TV before the New Year arrives at 12am with lots of fireworks! (Some people, who can also get Russian TV, might watch the New Year arrive in Moscow at 11pm Belarus time as Moscow is in a different time zone.)

Catholic and Protestant Christians might go to a Midnight Mass service on the 24th December and/or a Christmas Day service on the 25th December.

For Orthodox Christians the main Christmas service normally starts at midnight on the 6th/7th January following the hungry Kućcia and the night time service can last for several hours! Then Christmas Day, on the 7th January, is a public holiday where people visit family and friends.

In Belarusian, Merry Christmas is ‘Z Kaljadami’ (З Калядамі) and Happy New Year is ‘Z Novym godam’ (З Новым годам).