Sam, Christmas here means frost and snow. And at the moment it is raining and most of the trees are still green. Then they become yellow, then there is no leaves at all and everything looks desolate, and then in November there is snow, and then in December there is snow everywhere and then Christmas.
Means:
- it doesnt' look like Christmas is soon
- no beaches unless you travel to India. Some Russians do: a decade ago they introduced more than 10 days of state holydays in a row, and Russians who always go to the sea in summers started doing this in winters (usually it is India/Thailand, Egypt is cold that time). Since then they made the holydays shorter though. Still some 9 days. If not that, it wouldn't occur to Russians to go to India:) Some other Russians complain and say they can't endure drinking so many days in a row and want to work (I don't know, why do they have to drink:/ )
I don't have plans. Usually I do the same things that time that I do usually. And it is neither drinking, nor India.