Holidays

So it's Chanuka. Anyone have any thoughts to offer up?

Holidays, in general make life more interesting (I think anyway).
Imagine what it would be like if we just deleted the concept of a holiday.
Since I'm Jewish, I can only speak from a Jewish perspective (Jewish Holidays).
Seriously, what if there were no such thing as Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Succos, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach, or Shavuos? How would life be different?
No special time to ask our friends for forgiveness. No fasting. No special Yom Tov art projects in school. No special time to call your relatives to wish them a Good Yom Tov (or an easy fast, a happy new year, happy Chanuka, or happy Purim). No menorahs, no dreidels. No one would blow a shofar (which I find to be a strange concept in need of good explanation anyways...I mean seriously, why are we trying to blow a sound out of something that was obviously not made for musical use. And a RAM'S HORN? Seriously....). No one would build any little huts outside to eat in for 7 days. Come on....How fun is that concept! And I certainly wouldn't have thought up that activity to do. Camping, maybe....But this is so much cooler. No one would get all dressed up and give each other themed gifts with food in them. There would be no special designated time to give to the poor. There would be no such thing as matzah, no Afikomen, and no Seder! There would no longer be a night where all of our actions are meant to be directed towards the next generation (the children). And I don't know about you, but going to the matzah factory as a little kid was like one of the coolest experiences EVER! There would never be a time where we'd have to clean the house (for there has to be some form of order for us to be able to look for chametz). There would be no marror, no 4 cups of wine, no 4 questions, and no strange looking recipes of things that weren't meant to be made without flour and yeast. There'd be no day of milchigs and cheesecake. We'd never really have a day where everyone eats a similar thing and then gets to compare with each other. There'd be no "holy" excuse to buy expensive outfits, and nothing to save a special food for. Years would go by without landmarks in them. Time would pass more obscurely and less significantly.
So yes, holidays can be quite weird. We do weird things, eat weird things, and change our behavior in honor of them. They make you think, and sometimes say: "What on earth are we doing and why are we doing it?"
But life without them? B-O-R-I-N-G!