This post started ostensibly as a holiday greeting of sorts. I'm not very good at that sort of thing, and I'm also not really into the spirit of holidays that include me sitting at my desk at work doing what I usually do. Bah humbug! So much for the holiday greetings, eh?

For those of you able to get out of town or otherwise enjoy yourselves, please don't tell me about it.  Just have fun and enjoy it in silence. I don't like the feeling of being jealous.

Perhaps a brief description would be appropriate. I'm used to the "ghost town" feeling of Beijing at Christmas time, and this year is no exception. The office feels the same way, although there are still quite a few people running around trying to get in that last project before the end of the year, so you couldn't say things are slow at all.

In fact, I neglected to post yesterday just because I was incredibly busy – it had nothing to do with the holiday. I also figured that since no one is in town and less people are actually reading the news/blogs this week, I shouldn't waste my efforts. I try to pace myself.

No snow, just smog. Gotta love that.

In the spirit of weird Chinese holiday calendar gymnastics, I will be working all this week, will take off Saturday, which was supposed to be a work day, and then enjoy the official Sunday through Tuesday New Year holiday period. You get that? Clear as the Beijing sky, I'm sure.

So anyway, my Christmas holiday has included what I've done every year for well over 30 years: eat Chinese food.  My wife and (during this week) three cats seemed to enjoy the holiday. Not a bad group to spend the evening with. The extra two cats are a babysitting gig and have contributed a great deal this week to my sleepy demeanor and inability to concentrate on anything. Three cats can make a lot of noise at night – who knew?

Before I sign off, a special holiday congratulations to IP Dragon. Perhaps he'll post something and let everyone else know about his news. (No, it's not a pregnancy. Heh heh.)