There’s no mistaking that a Big Month is ahead, and this Thursday marks the unofficial kickoff. It’s end-of-year holiday time, which affects foods we’ll eat, music we’ll hear, films we’ll see and decorations we’ll display.

Thanksgiving serves as a kind of starting pistol or green flag for a season of craziness and joy, of noisy malls and Silent Night. Familiar signs of what’s ahead are clear already: Shops have holiday lights, thick catalogs fill mailboxes, H-U-G-E bargains are advertised for this Friday and college football bowl game lineups are forming.

The month ahead is about much more than buying and feasting. It’s also a time of faith, family traditions, charity and reflection. You may have noticed we didn’t use the “C-word” yet – and that’s because Christmas is not the only holiday Americans celebrate next month, just the main one. It’s also the one that shapes how many people feel about the annual rituals about to affect many parts of our culture.

Diverse celebrations: In addition to the Dec. 25 holiday, millions of Americans will observe Hanukkah from Dec. 16-23 or Kwanzaa from Dec. 26-Jan. 1. Others will share the season’s spirit without a religious or cultural observance.

‘Our’ Christmas tree: The national Christmas tree, a 65-foot Pacific silver fir, is heading to Washington. D.C., from the Olympic National Forest in Washington State. Its 10,000 lights will be turned on Dec. 6 at a Capitol Hill ceremony after the tall tree is decorated with more than 3,000 ornaments made by students from the state where it was cut.

Bah, humbug: “The business community that has taken control of the holiday season. . . . We can all make choices that reflect our values rather than the values of marketers.” – Columnist Tom Holmes, Forest Park (Ill.) Review, Nov. 14, 2006