I have lived for years in countries that do not celebrate Christmas. It was very handy yesterday (Christmas morning) when I realized that I forgot to buy breadcrumbs that I could run to the neighborhood grocery store and buy the breadcrumbs (used by Asians for coating and deep frying) that I needed for the topping of my veggie dish. In contrast, EVERYTHING, except for maybe hospitals, will be closed on New Year’s day and a few after.