Happy Holidays!

I'm so grateful to Kyle for repairing the buttons on the one coat that I have here - over recent days the temperature has plummeted, and the snow that fell at the weekend is now covered by a hard shell of ice. In the bright winter sun it looks beautiful, like giant cake frosting, and gives a satisfying crunch underfoot, but it's at the same time it can be very slippery (and I also saw alarmingly large chunks suddenly sliding off the rooftop of the nearby KFC and crashing to the ground when I went out for milk earlier). It certainly feels like winter now - appropriately, since winter officially began with the solstice on the 21st.

It's only a few days now until Christmas and everyone seems to be wishing us "Happy Holidays!", which to me has always felt like one of those quintessentially American turns of phrase - it's hard to imagine someone in the UK saying it. For Britons it's "Merry Christmas!" all the way. But "Happy Holidays" does reflect some of the multicultural flavour of the US, and the fact that Christmas isn't the only December holiday (religous or otherwise).

For example, if you go into a card shop looking for a Christmas card you will most likely also see a very nice selection of "Happy Hanukka!" cards, since the Jewish festival of Hanukka falls in December (it started on the 22nd this year). Then on the 26th December the week-long African American holiday called Kawanzaa begins. I'd never heard of Kawanzaa until I saw a poster for it in Princeton, but apparently it has been celebrated here as an "alternative" holiday to Christmas since it was instituted in 1966.

(At the same time I'd note that there are some British traditions that Americans don't share, for example they don't seem to have Boxing Day or Christmas crackers.)

Historically the Winter Solstice has been a significant date for many cultures and has been marked by various feasts and festivals through the ages. So I suppose the phrase "Happy Holidays!" is a good way to wish someone well in the spirit of the season, without reference to a particular religion or belief system. It also seems quite appropriate for people celebrating a form of "commercialised Christmas", which Kyle and I like to refer to as "Giftmas", and which retains the traditions of tree-decoration, gift-giving, over-consumption and angst whilst dispensing with just about all religious elements.

Anyway, in spite of how near we are to the 25th, I'm still waiting for Kyle to finish working on Christmas Eve before I can really feel like Christmas is here. And it's a little odd not to be spending Christmas with my folks this year, for the first time ever - but I'm still thinking of them and wishing them well. Happy Holidays everyone, wherever you are!