>I hate it when people, merchandisers in chief, refer to the period from roughly Thanksgiving to New Years as the "Christmas Season".

The nun who was the headteacher of a primary school that my children once attended took the concept of the "real" Christmas season to it's logical conclusion. She said that there was no reason to put up a crib or any Christmas decorations before the end of term as this was not appropriate in Advent. She went into the school on 24th December and decorated it, so that it was decorated when the children came back on the 5th (ish) Jan, only to be taken down on the 6th Jan, when she arranged Christmas parties. A little strange in these days of mammon but it did make a point to the children.