Is it me? Or is the new fretfulness over the days between Christmas and New Year’s Day a recent development? I’ve been seeing increased activity about the topic online—memes, posts, essays, diatribes—and it all points to the phenomenon of some kind of lost week at the end of the year. No one knows what to do or how to handle it. It’s like this time between those dates had never happened before and everyone is freaking out. Was it the pandemic? What happened to everyone?
I’ve never really thought of the interlude between December 26th and January 1st as anything negative or something to dread. Because my life and career have been largely centered around children and education, the week between Christmas and New Year’s are vacation days. And sometimes I got to enjoy them and stay home with everyone else and sometimes I had to go into work. But even when I had to work, someone was always home in pjs, eating Christmas candy and watching movies all day. So, this new phenomenon is curious to me.
One of the newsletters I subscribe to referred to this time period as “Dead Week.” Actually, the writer heard that from yet somewhere else, but it still intrigued me. The writer, Austin Kleon, typically understood this week as, “the weird no man’s land between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.” Isn’t that interesting? The gist of his article, though, was to understand it as a time to give up—the goals and projects that clearly weren’t going to get finished—although through his lens it was a time to let go.
And of course, for many Americans, Kwanzaa is celebrated during this time. Kwanzaa is relatively recent in my awareness, but now that I am aware of it, I enjoy knowing that some celebration is still in effect. My attitude is, the more holidays, the better. Kwanzaa celebrates African American culture and values and observes seven separate principles over seven nights.
But even celebrating can be stressful and the holidays at the end of the year put a lot of pressure on people. Stress is stress and in the US we’re celebrating practically from the end of October to January 1st. So why add the last week of the year to our already maxed out energy and pressure to produce? Why make it a stressful thing?
We shouldn’t. My brother Richard and I were talking about how we both envisioned the year as circular, like a clock. He said it reminded him of when he traveled to Egypt and visited the tombs. In one of the tombs, he described a circular calendar on the ceiling. He recalled that the Egyptians had a week at the end of each year that they considered outside of time in order to make their calendar work out mathematically. I immediately decided to embrace the Egyptian way of visualizing the year.
So, this week—instead of dead or lost or given up or let go—is more like found time. Maybe this collection of hours, this sequence of days is more like free or open or—I don’t know—up to you? Finish a project or take a breather. You know . . . something to enjoy.
I could use that kind of time. Couldn’t you?
When my children were small I used to organise a kids party at home in the week between Christmas and New Year. I think there’s a bit of a low time after all the build-up before the big day, and the kids miss sharing the excitement with their friends, so it worked well for them. They had something else to look forward to after Boxing Day. And it gave the adults a bit of time off because they would leave them at my house for a few hours knowing they’d be safe. I really enjoyed it as well.
I guess the whole point is that you make the most of the time depending on who you’re with and what options are available.
Happy New Year!
After a no-Christmas Christmas, I feel like this period is found time. To walk as far as I feel like. To read indulgently. To write, especially to old friends and catch up on the year. To enjoy the extra minute or two of light we gain every day. To try to feel hopeful about the new year.