Somewhere out there, if this video reaches someone in the world, and it touches their heart with hope and relief, if that happens, then that is worth all our effort made for this video!

After Thanksgiving, we spent quite some time working on this video. There was a lot of thinking involved in order to make the video exactly the way that we wanted it to be: hopeful and gentle in the new year!

The video has 6 slides, but it can be considered to be 2 parts. The first part with 3 slides is the reflection of our thoughts about changes, challenges, and how to face them. Our answers came out to be to embrace them, to seek the best of the situation, and to tackle them with a comfortable pace.

The second set of another 3 slides is about taking action. The music stops after the first 3 slides and plays again at the 4th. Everything is awakened. It’s about how tomorrow will be better, and the new year will be full of hope, joy, and success.

The pictures of nature are taken from our surroundings. They’ve touched our hearts and serve as inspirations that will guide us along the new year. These simple and soft pictures indicate what we foresee 2025 to be like, and sets the path for the next year.

The first photo: Light is cast on the mountain top and turns the mountain top from green to golden, which signifies magnificent opportunities to come.

The second photo: It’s an image that coincides with the idea of us taking a comfortable stroll into the new year.

The third photo: The text is displayed between clouds, which embraces the message of changes. A rainbow is also a great symbol stretching towards a bright future.

The fourth photo: This is a picture of dawn taken by us, which is filled with hope and beauty.

The music is relaxing, calming, and reflective, which matches our theme perfectly. Every slide is on the beat and not too strong. The music stops at the end of the first set and starts again distinguishes this year from next year.

The video is a collective expression of Monterey Language Services. Through our expression, we hope to make connections with those who come pass our path. We wish everyone a wonderful and successful 2025 and it is filled with optimism and opportunities for growth.

We also have a traditional and simplified Chinese version, which is very convenient for people to greet each other in the new year with positive, uplifting messages.

Following the celebration sound at the end slide, we open the door to the new year! Happy Holidays, Happy 2025, and Happy New Year!

Christmas

A major holiday in the US and the world is Christmas, where Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ by giving gifts to friends and family members. It is a great time to remember what to be thankful for, repaying gifts, and giving kindness to others. Being such a significant holiday, December is often filled with Christmas imagery like trees, sparkling ornaments, and songs that fill malls, supermarkets, and radio stations.

Hanukah

Also written as Hannukah or Chanukah, this holiday celebrates the famous story about how, during a days-long fight against Syrian Greeks, candles continued to burn for eight nights rather than just one as was expected. Subsequently, Jerusalem was recovered by the Jewish, and the Second Temple was rededicated to the Jewish people. The significance of the holiday symbolizing resistance and religious freedom cannot be overstated.

Hanukah is observed by lighting the candles. On each of the holiday’s eight nights, one additional candle is lit by the ninth candle, called shamash (“helper” or “attendant”), until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the celebration. Hanukah has attained major cultural significance in North America and elsewhere, due to often occurring around the same time as Christmas.

Kwanzaa

Like Hannukah, imagery around Kwanzaa also includes candles, one of which is black, three are red, and three are green. The black one, which represents the African people, is used to light the others; red represents the struggle that Blacks have gone through, and the green represents hope and future.

Kwanzaa is actually a newer holiday that began in 1966, created by Dr. Maulana Karenga after the Watts riots in Los Angeles. The holiday celebrates Black heritage and lasts for seven days, with each day highlighting a different principle: Unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

Las Posadas

Spanish for “The Inns,” Las Posadas is a Christmas-adjacent holiday that is celebrated in Mexico and some other parts of Central and South America such as Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. The holiday takes place between the 16^th and 24^th, and acts as a reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, searching for safe lodgings for Mary to give birth to Jesus. The holiday highlights the importance of faith, prayer, and pilgrimages.

The nine days interval for this holiday represents Mary’s nine-month pregnancy. Each night, a child dressed as an angel leads others through the community, where they stop and ask for lodging. When they are refused lodging, those in the procession sing Christmas carols. At the end of every night, after the group is accepted into one of the homes or a church, mass is held, and children break a pinata that is usually shaped like a star—the one that led the wise men to Jesus’s birthplace.

Multi-Cultural Celebration

December is a wonderful month of the year; people from all over the world are taking multi-cultural celebration of holidays. The holidays bond us together as a family, a community, a nation, and even a whole world. Throughout the holidays, we can feel a sense of belonging and reflect on what is important to us. At Monterey Language Services, we will continue doing what we believe in—that is, to help community communication through translation and interpretation. We are thankful for having you to make our work meaningful and enjoyable. Happy holidays from the Monterey Language Services team, we send you our warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday season!