December 2 is like July 4.

National Day is to the UAE what the Fourth of July is to the United States: A day to celebrate a country’s beginnings.

What does that mean in tangible terms?

Decorated cars, fireworks and crowds at the Corniche.

We did the National Day thing a year ago, when it was the 38th edition. We both had the day off, and went with our friend Nancy Beth down to the beach, winding our way through the crowds on foot and the cars gridlocked on the streets, to watch the fireworks — with about 100,000 of our best friends.

For the 39th National Day, yesterday, we both … worked. And Nancy Beth is back in the States.

It is a long weekend off for public employees.

The biggest visual impact of the day, if you can’t see the fireworks, are all the decorations put on cars. Decals large and larger. Mostly of prominent sheikhs and the UAE flag.

“Stickers” on cars are illegal here about 360 days a year. But just before and just after National Day, you can take your ride down to the shop and have them paste a bunch of faces onto your SUV, making you a sort of rolling Mount Rushmore of UAE history.

Then, you take your vehicle down to the Corniche and have a bunch of your friends (of family members) sit on window sills and throw things at people. Candy, maybe. Sometimes silly string. You turn up the music and admire each other’s art work as you drive nowhere fast.

Thing is, those treatments are semi-expensive, and you can be ticketed for them if they’re not off in the next day or so. Which makes them really expensive.

It’s a curious custom, but one that apparently has been around about as long as the country has — which is only 1971.

The UAE is 40 years old on December 2, 2011. That might be a particularly large celebration.  I don’t know … did the U.S. party down in 1816, when it turned 40?