Dic: (be) in the air

• There was great excitement in the air.
• Love/Change/Spring is in the air.
• Christmas was in the air. 
• There was a sense of excitement in the air.
• Change is in the air. 
• Excitement was in the air.
• There was a feeling in the air that it was time for a change.
• Spring is in the air.
• There's romance in the air.

* * * 

■ If something is in the air it is felt to be present, but it is not talked about.

■ a) in circulation; current, b) in the process of being decided; unsettled.

■ If something is in the air, you feel that it is happening or about to happen.

■ adv. on everybody's mind; in everyone's thoughts

■ a) if a feeling is in the air, a lot of people feel it at the same time. b) to be going to happen very soon.

■ Abroad; prevalent.

■ something is in the air: used for saying that people all have a similar feeling, especially a feeling that something exciting or new is happening.

■ felt by a number of people to exist or to be happening.

.... Cobuild, Collins, CALD, Wordnet, LDOCE, The American Heritage, Macmillan, OALD