Christmas in Moscow has long been an awkward feast, marking that period celebrated by many of the expatriate community in defiance of local tradition. Irrespective of communist mores, Orthodox Christmas falls on Jan. 7, not Dec. 25, and the idea of making this Monday a celebration of Christ's birth is meaningless to most Russians.


But nonetheless, the spirit of what many Russians call Catholic Christmas seems to be making its presence felt in Moscow.


Festive lights line store windows, and crowds have been gathering in shops and markets during the past few weekends frantically buying gifts. Christmas decorations imported from the West line the shelves of many stores. Christmas jingles can be heard on the radio. And Christmas trees, or yolki, and Russian Santas can be found at department stores around the city.


In Soviet times, all celebration of Christmas was officially banned. The long-standing Russian tradition of observing the religious holiday was lost and replaced by secular festivities such as the New Year. When Orthodox Christmas followed, the authorities did all they could to play it down.


But seven decades had their effect, and now those New Year celebrations remain the most important holiday of the year for most people here.


This is not to say that Russian Christians have stopped observing Christmas in traditional religious ways. But when it was made an official holiday not long ago, many Russians treated it as just another day off. After so many years of ignoring the holiday, it was difficult for some to get a sense of its meaning.


What, then, accounts for the growing influence of Western, or to be more precise, American-style Christmas in the capital?


Much of this lies in Russia's continuing fascination with the West. Indeed, Russians see far more images of Christmas in the West around Dec. 25 on television than of their own celebrations.


Now they have to choose among which of the three holidays -- Western Christmas, Russian Orthodox Christmas and New Year's -- they should celebrate. Undoubtedly, many Russians, particularly those who work for Western firms, are probably only too happy to have an extra day off.


But there are plenty of others, for whom the commercialization and Western intrusion merely cheapen the whole event. There are also many expatriates who welcome the opportunity to get away from all the tawdriness that surrounds the festivities at home. Far better for Western and Orthodox Christmas to go ahead at their own separate times and in their own traditional ways, rather than imposing one tradition on the other.