Christmas is your Chinese New Year: Fascinating similarities

"Christmas is your Chinese New Year."

I've heard this phrase uttered to me countless times by people in China when the holidays roll around, whether Christmas or Chinese New Year.

I once thought the comparison a bit of a stretch, wondering how the holiday of Santa Claus of my childhood in the United States could possibly resemble a celebration involving fireworks and lion dances. But over the years I've recognized that Chinese New Year and Christmas share fascinating, and sometimes surprising, commonalities.