Christmas items seem to show up on retail shelves before Halloween, not to mention how early the holiday songs start to play on certain radio stations. Some people love Christmas so much that the season can’t start early enough for them. It’s the anticipation, I think, that beckons us ever earlier, to prepare.
And it is great fun—shopping for a tree (or else hauling it out of the basement or attic), decorating the house, planning for meals, and shopping for presents. If the high anxiety of striving for perfection can be put aside, and we can enjoy all the preparation, moment by moment, the season can be magical.
Everyone has their own particular schedule with the holidays, and I certainly won’t chastise anyone for their way of doing it. I have friends who put up the tree well before Thanksgiving, and others that leave it up through all of January and beyond. We all know people who love to revel in the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the season and seem to celebrate it for months on end.
There are others on the opposite extreme. My mother-in-law put out her Christmas tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving without fail. That was fine, but what seemed odd to me was that she completely put it all away on the day after Christmas, sometimes eliciting her family’s help on Christmas Day to start the de-decorating. It’s as if she thought, “Done! Christmas is over. Time to move on.”
The traditional twelve days of Christmas starts on Christmas Day and runs through January fifth. That annoying holiday song means that the partridge in the pear tree was given on Christmas Day, and the five golden rings would have been given on December 29. But we tend to treat Christmas Day as the LAST day of the Christmas season as we rush to the stores to return unwanted gifts and shop the after-Christmas sales. It’s no wonder that some people think that the twelve days of Christmas start on December 14 and end on the 25th. I even received daily emails from two retailers offering their special twelve days of Christmas offerings from December 14-25. But capitalism wins out over tradition, and we as a society generally ignore the concept of living in the season after Christmas has passed.
I like it both ways, if I’m honest. I put up my tree, decorate, and shop for presents in early to mid-December. I thoroughly enjoy all of the activities of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But once the day has passed, I still like to linger with the memories. I can luxuriate in the gustatory memories for days because there are usually so many leftovers. I like to leave up my tree and decorations at least until New Year’s Day. That seems like a satisfactory length of time to reminisce, and a good way to start off the new year.
What if we continued to live within the spirit of Christmas for at least the next twelve days? What would that look like? Generosity would flow. We would set aside our differences, and the love for family and friends would be shared. Respect and appreciation for all of humanity would flourish.
The light within each of us would shine a little brighter as we brought that light into a weary world.