Merry Christmas to those observing the Julian Calendar. I know even for western Christians, Christmas is not over until this weekend when the Feast of the Epiphany is observed. People nowadays tend to put their decorations up early and take them all down New Years Day. I guess they want to get everything down before it gets even colder, but it's nice to have something to look forward to in an otherwise boring month. I know there are also cultures even in the West where people exchange gifts on January 6 in honor of the Three Kings. No one is completely sure the exact date of Christ's birth anyway. Although I'm not Orthodox I like to leave my lights up until the second week of January and I never have them up before Thanksgiving. I switched all my Christmas lights to LED or "Energy Smart" lights that only use 3.2 Watts of electricity per strand so leaving them up 2 more weeks is only a matter of pennies. I also have solar string lights that I never take down.
Where I come from (the Pennsylvania coal region), today is known as "Russian Christmas" although it is also Christmas for any Eastern Christians who still follow their traditional calendar.
Trutovsky Konstantin Kolyadki v Malorossii (Late 19th Century)
Vladimir Putin 7 January 2002
http://www.kremlin.ru/events/photos/2002/01/148889.shtml
More on Christmas worldwide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_worldwide
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