A couple of months ago, we moved to Malta. It's a tiny group of islands just south of Sicily (Sicily is also an island, but about a thousand times bigger than Malta...). The population is 98% devout Catholics.
As someone who doesn't hold a lot of truck with Xmas (I don't 'do' Xmas and haven't done for years) I was impressed in the run-up to it how relaxed an affair it is here. The Maltese adore Christmas, and they love celebrating. Lots of decorations everywhere (the shops for decorations are bigger than the biggest supermarket), and no lack of shopping - but none of the usual shoving, pushing, shouting, bad manners, even worse humour. Instead, there was a really good atmosphere in crowded Valletta. By the city gate yesterday, the Italian army brass band was playing Xmas songs to a huge audience (the Maltese love their brass bands). In front of the band stand, a Santa and a white angel on stilts were dancing gently to the music.
On top of it all, the misery of last week's rainy weather cleared up and yesterday morning we woke up to bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine, and about 18C/64F all day. Today, it's the same.
So we went down to the boat and managed to get some repairs done. A Maltese friend dropped by - looking at the weather, he thought he'd find us there - and gave us a bottle of mulled wine. That morning, I had also received a package with German Lebkuchen in the post from my father (my mother had sent German Xmas cake, Stollen, earlier - there are still some attempts to convert me back into a Xmas lover, I think).
In the evening, just when I had settled down to a LibriVox recording, the church bells started (ruining my paragraph). They haven't really stopped much since. I've never heard such persistent bell ringing before. Finally, at 10 at night, there was peace. Then the party started. We live right by the waterfront - a favourite hang-out for ad-hoc Xmas parties, as it turns out. Youths drive up in their cars and music is blasting out at full volume. Until about 3a.m. we had a cheerful mix of Xmas songs, Country and Western, pop and classic rock. This morning they waited until 9a.m. before starting up again. The current offering is 'Jailhouse Rock.' So, no recording for the time being...
In Malta, then, Xmas is less of the sometimes claustrophobic, family-centric affair, and more general party time. People go out for lunch a lot, and the streets are full with cars - none of that almost deathly quiet I have experienced in a lot of other countries during this time.
How about your Xmas, or whichever other 'holiday' you might have?