Christmas and O-Shogatsu in Multi-Cultural Canada

A Happy New Year—Akemashite omedet? gozaimasu—to you all. Like many readers, I was lucky enough to be able to share moments of joy with family and friends in a few get-togethers through Christmas into the New Year (o-sh?gatsu). As usual, the final week of the old year flew by in a flash. As soon as the hectic pre-Christmas shopping days and Christmas passed, or so it seemed, we were already ushering in the year 2008.