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Holidays

Several people in coats stand around a giant button

Why are so few people born on Christmas Day, New Year’s and other holidays?

Depending on the year and place, between 30% and 40% fewer babies are born on Dec. 25 than on the peak day of the year.

Gift wrapping

The science of gift wrapping explains why sloppy is better

Lifestyle & Belief
An exhibition of Soviet ornaments and toys at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts

Cosmonauts and corncobs: A peek at some Soviet-era holiday ornaments

Hazel Bethel is a Manischewitz wine devotee. She's originally from Trinidad and was introduced to the wine by friends who worked in Jewish homes in New York.

Is that Manischewitz? The Kosher wine is a hit in some Caribbean communities.

Food
Muslim groups say their religious holidays belong on school calendars alongside Jewish and Christian holidays that many districts take off.

How to avoid closing your school for Muslim holidays — end Christian and Jewish ones, too

Education
Cho Mei and her parents, refugees from Burma, bought their first Christmas tree this year. Mei says she's even participating in a 'Secret Santa' gift exchange with her family-- something she learned from her Burmese church group in Oakland.

These Liberian and Myanmar refugees cook up old, and new, Christmas traditions

Lifestyle & Belief

Who says you have to be Christian to celebrate Christmas in America? Since most everyone has the day off on December 25th, refugee communities often come together and create their own holiday traditions.

Spain trying to improve economy by moving around its holiday

Business, Economics and Jobs

Spanish officials say the country loses a lot of economic productivity when it has holidays fall during the middle of the week. To combat that, they’re going to try moving all holidays to Mondays.

Spanish Government Proposes Holiday Shuffle

Global Politics

The new government in Spain is trying lots of things to fix the country’s broken finances and weak economy. One measure to boost productivity is an overhaul of the innumerable holidays that Spanish workers enjoy.

The World

Number of Americans Taking Vacation Hit a Low Point

A 2011 poll conducted by Marist found that only 45 percent of respondents plan to take a vacation this summer. That’s the lowest number in the survey’s 11 year history. And only 35 percent of those who are planning getaways will be taking longer trips, as opposed to weekend jaunts.  Why  aren’t  more Americans taking vacations? And how […]

The World

Kids’ Holiday

To discover the true meaning of the holidays, we turned to the kids from Boston’s Renaissance Charter Public School, making Christmas ornaments from things that otherwise would have been thrown away.