> I'm going into an hard-work period: I need to pass two exams (moreover, I *need* to get the best score) and complete my Electronic Engineering thesis. I will graduate not before than late February.

Good luck on the exams and the thesis. Come back for a visit if you start to get too burnt out!

> This lot of work will probably discontinue my presence here until that date, so I want to wish to everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
> I don't know if you also celebrate December the 8th, December the 13th and January the 6th: anyway, have a good time! (and sometimes think to me, sadly buried under a ton of books).
>

Of course we celebrate January the 6th! That's my birthday! (Well, at least my family celebrates it. That day is also known as Three Kings Day or Epiphany. Sometime when I was a child, the Roman Catholic church decided to switch the Epiphany Mass from January 6th to whatever Sunday was closest to the sixth. I actually liked having my birthday a Holy Day of Obligation.)

Here in America, we have something like eight federal holidays that we can take off of work to celebrate:

New Year's Day is either celebrated on December 31st or January 1st, depending on if it falls on a weekend. This day is celebrated much the same way around the world -- if stuck at home with the parents, we watch a rerun of a "Very Special Donnie and Marie New Year's Celebration" from 1976 on Nick at Nite.

President's Day, which used to be two different holidays -- Washington's Birthday and (two weeks and a few days later) Lincoln's Birthday. President's Day is a day we celebrate by watching television ads for 20% off washers and dryers.

Memorial Day is one of the many "Remember the Americans who were in wars" days we have. Memorial Day in particular is for the war dead. This is when the big budget, little plot movies are released from Hollywood on an unsuspecting public.

Independence Day is the little-known name for The Fourth of July, a day where everyone goes out to the park and has a picnic to celebrate us breaking free from the British. To get back at us, wiley Brit burglars take this opportunity to break into our houses and steal our stuff, as we're all out watching firework explosions.

Labor Day is a day to celebrate those who work by not working or something like that. My mother insinuated that one could be shot for wearing white pants after this day.

Thanksgiving is commonly known as Eating Day. Eating Day celebrates the Indians (aka "Native Americans") giving the starving Pilgrims food, just before the now-feed Pilgrims decided that they should have all the land and killed the Indians. This day's celebrations consists of a full day of eating turkey, watching football, and fighting amoungst family members. To get back at us, wiley Indian burglars wait until we fall asleep from tryptophan in the turkey and steal all the stuff the Brits missed.

The day after Thanksgiving isn't actually a federal holiday, but most people get that day off so they can crowd into shopping malls at 8am to replace everything that was stolen from them. This day also begins the "Eating the Thanksgiving Leftovers" season, which ends sometime around next President's Day.

Then there's Christmas which in the United States isn't a religious holiday, but is rather a capitalist holiday. Families gather around the television to watch such wonderful programs as "A Very Brady Christmas", "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians", and that version of "Miracle on 34th Street" where they decided to be cute and change the ending like in the remake of "King Kong" where they had King Kong climb the World Trade Center towers instead of the Empire State Building. Anyway, the next day, where everyone returns the god-awful gifts they got on Christmas Day, is not a holiday.


> Hugs,
> Sandra.

/hug SaGi

-Faux "wishes he lived in Sweden where they have something like 800 holidays a year" Pas