When it comes to the Christmas and New Year's holiday, I'm solidly 'bah humbug' about the whole thing. I genereally can't wait for them to be over.

I like Christmas less than I like New Years. When I lived with my parents, this wasn't the case, but now Christmas equals boredom and loneliness. Nearly everyone I know is out of town, or busy with some family obligations. Work slows down or stops altogether. The rest of the year, I'm too busy to spend a lot of time with my friends.

It's too cold outside- and more importantly too dry- to enjoy going for a walk, taking pictures of the city. Even though I've been taking it easy, resting, exercising, and geting a lot of vitamin C, I've still managed to get myself a nasty cold.

At least in Beijing I don't have to deal with the fact that everything is closed for the holiday. Or the fact that when I want to go to the store to buy something simple I have to deal with throngs of holiday shoppers.

Fortunately, it's all going to fade away for another year. I'll still have vague reminders of the season continuing through August in the form of Santa Claus decorations or those frosted spray snowflakes that just refuse to leave the window they've been stuck upon.

Well, till next year, at least.