The Calendar Year?

I often wonder why the year begins in January.  This is probably a ploy for people to feel happy when they would normally be a little depressed.  Winter sucks.  There is not much day light and really why do we celebrate a new year freezing our butts off.  Well here in the Northern Hemisphere, it must rock being in the Southern Hemisphere...

Anyway I was thinking about the French calendar in the shower this morning and how it compares to the American one... 

The French year begins September 1st. 
*I actually think that we should change New Years Day to this day.  Any one else with me on this one? 

Anyway between September 1st and November 1st, the country is pretty productive, I would say that if you want anything done, do it as this time.  But then in November things start to slack off.

November 1st and 11th are holidays, so some people try to take time off around this time, go on holiday, that sort of thing.  December starts the Xmas season and the last 2 weeks of Xmas are shot -- no one works....Just as you are getting your new year underway, there are ski/winter holidays in Feb, late March/early April is PAX another big vacation season, leading us right into the May holidays (1st, 8th and 'Whit Monday')  Who would want to work on Whit Monday, honestly?  I can't remember what that holiday actually signifies, but I know that it is catholic and is not celebrated in America.  Then you have another 2 months of productivity before 30% of the country takes the entire month of August off.  Although some people actually take July 15th until Aug 15th or some variation on their month long holiday, bringing us right back to September. 

The thing I love about this calendar is less about trying to do stuff -- like buying a car in August is nearly impossible or getting some administrative nightmare handled, it is the anticipation of the next holiday.  There is always something to look forward too....

Here in the US, kids start school, practically in the middle of August, then we have plenty of fake holidays that no one takes off anyway, since they are so ridiculous until Thanksgiving.  December is pretty much shot, but some people work on through...Only a few random Mondays off in the winter and spring, that most people don't take off, and then spring break which is really only for children and college students. A few more random days off and we are into summer.  Where some people try to take vacation, but can't cause they only get 2 weeks for the whole year and it's too expensive anyway...  Where is the anticipation??