Bloody Snowmen.

So the last couple of weeks at work have been very strange. Apart from having to work until 3:30 on the day before Christmas Eve (like some sort of Bob Cratchit), I found it very difficult to get my head round the way schools in NY must not do anything religious. In England, the holiday is Christmas and it is traditional that religion plays a large part, even for people who are not religious. There is is part of my job to teach the children the true meaning of Christmas although it is entirely up to them to believe it or not. It made me quite sad actually not to be doing that over here and I found it hard to get into the Festive Spirit! In the US the snowman seems to reign supreme, he is the overwhelming face of 'The Holiday Season'. I suspect this is because snowmen are wintery without being linked to any particular religion. I am so not getting into a religious debate but I feel that seeing people celebrate the customs of all the different religions in the world add to the rich diversity of life and help us to be more accepting of each others differences. I did however enjoy the American custom of the Holiday Vest (waistcoat). The photo above shows me and my wonderful colleagues all dressed up on the last day!