Have you ever wonder is the year or the time for you and the rest of the world the same?
In many countries around the world different customs, times, years, cultures...and as Bible says all started while building Babylonian tower.
Human race wanted to build Babylonian tower and to reach to heaven to be closer to God.
The reason for this was wrong, since they (human race) wanted to become the same as God, to reach that level through the shortcut-the tower. Root of their desire was not from good but from evil - from their ego.
God saw the work of man and their unity in reaching this goal by wrong means.
So God had to stop it and to teach the human race to be humble again- and God mixed human race and separated them with different languages, cultures, customs and belief systems.
That what story tells. So different customs are all over the world which makes diversity and beauty of it.

Today is Orthodox Christian Christmas! 
What is Orthodox? This is Orthodoxy according to wikipedia explanation:
Orthodoxy (from Greek ὀρθός, orthos ("right", "true") and δόξα, doxa ("belief" or "opinion"),[1]) is adherence to correct or accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion.[2] In the Christian sense the term means "conforming to the Christian faith as represented in the creeds of the early Church".[1] Creeds were developed in the first seven Ecumenical Councils over a period of several centuries to try to formalize these accepted doctrines.
Through this Ecumenical Councils bordered modifications of faith and all deviation from the one established by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ himself. Christian faith was established and was bordered with dogmas-which are truths not to be question.
So Calendar by which Orthodox are celebrating haven't changed from the Jesus Christ 2015 years.
The meaning is of course Celebrating of birth the Son of God, Jesus Christ, in a shed among the animals, the ruler of all, in the humbles simplicity ever seen.
Mainly orthodox nations are  Russians, Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians, Romanians, and countries where the significant percentage is orthodox are Lebanon, Cypress, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, China,  Japan.
One of the first and most important signature of Orthodox celebration is cutting of the Badnjak (tree from family of Quercus). 
The reason why Orthodox do that is because it is believed that this is the tree Joseph took to make fire to heat room for Jesus and his mother Maria.

Head of the house, male, goes to the forest, early in the morning (usually to wait for dawn) with his oldest son to choose, and cut tree, and with ritual to bring it in the house.
The young tree is expected as a person, it is covered in honey, and sprinkled with grains..etc. 
Many other rituals are followed by after this.
Catholic Christians, change the type of wood to be a Christmas tree.
The Orthodox fast of 40-ty days, without any meat, cheese, eggs, salamis...etc is over. The dinner is prepared. Traditionally is served for dinner, fish soup (made of different available fish), also beans, with onion, and baked, Saur cabbage, potatoes salad. 
This date is one of the most important because, if there was no birth, there would not be Crucifixion, and there would not be a resurrection and the salvation of the human race.
So do not dwell on the today problems of our daily life of a passing stage to an eternal never-ending life, and rejoice, for the happiest occasion in the entire human race history, the birth of Son of God, and only saviour of human race.
So once again Merry Christmas!

By Renio Caleta