The Problem with Christmas
Every year, around December 27, I fall into a funk. Christmas is over. The tree is still up, but its days are numbered, and soon the post-holiday abyss opens beneath my feet. The energy that carried me from Thanksgiving through Christmas morning evaporates, and I’m left staring into the bleak, wintry normalcy of January. Then things take a turn for the worse as the icy fingers of February curl around my neck. February. A month without kindness or warmth.
Okay, it’s not that bad, but it’s not great, either.
The emptiness that follows Christmas is the first problem. The next is that Christmas distorts the other holidays. Thanksgiving barely shines before Christmas swallows it whole, creating a ‘Christmas-Giving Turducken’ of the season. And before you know it, New Year’s is knocking, demanding resolutions while my house still twinkles with fairy lights. Is any holiday period more dispiriting than the whiplash transition into New Year’s?
Worst of all, Christmas itself is exhausting. If you love the holiday as much as I do, you know what I mean. It’s a marathon of decorating, baking, gift-wrapping, event-hopping, all crammed into a too-short window and weighed down by the pressure to make this year the best ever. The fact that last year’s Christmas was a disastrous flop that, even now, nourishes the vampiric Ghost of Christmas Past only compels us to try again with more cheer.
But what if this year’s Christmas is different? What if it’s actually good? Then, just as you settle into your cozy place, the whole thing ends with the brutal efficiency of a guillotine. The desiccated Christmas tree pleads for mercy and around January 5, you grant it.
In short, our beloved Christmas lacks manners and good pacing. It’s too long (commandeering other holidays), too short (lacking a proper wind-down), and far too intense (compressing its entire magic into one fevered stretch).
So how do we improve the world’s greatest holiday while keeping it maximally Christmassy? That’s the problem I set out to solve with 120 Days of Christmas: an almanac that lets us stretch the joy, lower the stress, and find ways to celebrate every single day between November 1 and February 28.
But proceed with caution. This book was written for fellow fanatics who are energized by the prospect of having more and better-engineered Christmas traditions. Non-fanatics will find that celebrating Christmas for 120 days neither improves Christmas nor lowers stress levels. It’s just maddening. And even for the obsessed, special care is required, or your loved ones will forge a grim solidarity around their collective loathing of your relentlessly festive outlook.
Here’s my advice: You should not attempt to celebrate 120 days of Christmas unless you are verifiably, irredeemably Christmas-obsessed and prepared to withstand cynical jabs from those less bewitched by tinsel (i.e., everyone you know). On the other hand, you should attempt to celebrate 120 days of Christmas if you like cupcakes and just want more reasons to make them.
Merrily yours,
Juniper Cleveland