I remember this same subject being covered in Ozy and Millie, and, being Brazilian, having the same reaction Basqueian had [not so in Australia and New Zealand].
Since then, I spent 3 years in Canada. I wasn’t a child anymore then, but I’ve come to the conclusion that Christmas is made for winter and it works much better this way.
The reason Christmas is good for winter is well covered by keykeyser, the reason it’s not good for summer is because it intensifies way too much the culture of hedonism summer has. Here in Brazil we have a saying that nothing happens between Christmas and Carnaval (Mardi Gras), which is normally when summer vacations end. This is a simple and harmless fact of life when we’re students, but it can be quite a conundrum when we’re no longer that. For example, I got fired at Christmas once, and while it’s normally easy and fast to find a new job in my line of work, it was only February when I finally got my first response. Thankfully I had saved up plenty at the time, so I didn’t fall into debt, but I’m sure there are worse stories out there.
GASP! She’s… she’s… she’s PRACTICING!