christmas.py

from datetime import datetime
from datetime import timedelta
from datetime import date

class Holiday(object):
  _message = "Hello"

  def get_start_date(self):
    raise NotImplementedError

  def is_now(self):
    current_year = date.today().year
    day = self.get_start_date().split("-")
    return datetime(current_year, int(day[0]), int(day[1])) - datetime.now() < timedelta(hours=24)


  def cheer(self):
    if self.is_now():
      print self._message
    else:
      print "Have patience my young padawan"


class Christmas(Holiday):
  _message = "Hello  and a Merry Christmas to all!!!"

  def get_start_date(self):
    return "12-25"


class Easter(Holiday):
  def get_start_date(self):
    return "4-20"

Christmas().cheer()

Add a year_in_seconds constant, a multiplier (number of years since 1970), a christmas_offset (number of seconds from Jan 01 to Christmas), and it will work every year.

Then realize that you'll have to deal with leap years as well, (multiplier xor 4 == 0) in which case christmas_offset = christmas_offset + one day_in_seconds constant.

and we can put everything into a class :D, and after that it will be simple to add new features to the way how christmas is handled :D

Done. Sherban, you can wrap it in a class :)

class Holiday:
pass

class Christmas(Holiday):
pass

.....

from datetime import datetime
from datetime import timedelta
from datetime import date

class Holiday(object):

    _message = "Hello"

    def get_start_date(self):
        raise NotImplementedError

    def is_now(self):
        return self.get_start_date() - datetime.now() < timedelta(hours=24)

    def cheer(self):
        if self.is_now():
            print self._message
        else:
            print "Have patience my young padawan"


class Christmas(Holiday):

    _message = "Hello  and a Merry Christmas to all!!!"

    def get_start_date(self):
        current_year = date.today().year
        return datetime(current_year, 12, 25)


class Easter(Holiday):
    ....
    pass

Christmas().cheer()

from datetime import datetime
from datetime import timedelta
from datetime import date


class Holiday(object):

    _message = "Hello"

    def get_start_date(self):
        raise NotImplementedError

    def is_now(self):
        current_year = date.today().year
        day = self.get_start_date().split("-")
        return datetime(current_year, int(day[0]), int(day[1])) - datetime.now() < timedelta(hours=24)

    def cheer(self):
        if self.is_now():
            print self._message
        else:
            print "Have patience my young padawan"


class Christmas(Holiday):

    _message = "Hello  and a Merry Christmas to all!!!"

    def get_start_date(self):
        return "12-25"


class Easter(Holiday):

    def get_start_date(self):
        return "4-20"

Christmas().cheer()

This escalated quickly.