In the spirit of the holiday season, we are focusing on the myriad holiday categories in the ODP. A search on the term "holidays" reveals just how diverse these are, from Recreation/Travel/Specialty Travel/Festivals and Holidays to News/Current Events/Holidays.

The largest holiday category resides in Society/Holidays, from satirical Bah Humbug! sites in the Anti-Holidays/Christmas category, to religious pages in categories like Judaism/Holidays and Observances. Editors, knowledgeable and thorough, lead users to all kinds of holiday information, such as who Santa Claus might really have been, in the category Society/…/Catholicism/Saints/N/Saint_Nicholas_of_Myra.

And to be sure that Old St. Nick shows up, users go shopping. Holiday shopping is hugely important to the health of retail businesses, so it is not surprising that the top level Shopping/Holidays category needed to be created, with users being directed to more than 260 Christmas shopping sites alone.

Holiday observances usually involve food and socializing, and the Home/Cooking/Holidays and Home/Entertaining/Holidays categories have continued to increase over the last year as more and more cooks and party-givers share what they know over the Internet.

Speaking of the Internet, a whole new holiday interest has grown up that simply didn't exist ten years ago. Users now look for online graphics, Computers/Graphics/Clip_Art/Holidays/, homepage decorations, Computers/Software/Desktop_Customization/Wallpaper/Holidays/, or online greeting cards which are spread throughout our holiday sites.

Regional holidays are also featured in the ODP with listings in Society, in Kids_and_Teens/Society_and_People/Holidays_and_Celebrations, and lots of holiday categories in Regional, from Singapore to the Netherlands. With the access that the Internet provides, once regional-only holidays are being noticed worldwide and celebrated outside tradional boundaries, from the North American Thanksgiving holidays to Diwali in India.