Many individuals are familiar with what is called the “Christmas season.” It begins after Halloween when businesses start to stock up on Christmas decorations and prepare to promote presents to consumers. Around Thanksgiving, most individuals start their celebration of Christmas. Christmas lights and decorations go up on homes, the stores are filled with customers, and most trees begin going up. Radio stations play Christmas music, offices and people have parties, schools and churches have plays and musicals. The festivities continue and be even more pronounced until December 25th, when the party reaches its climax. Presents are exchanged, family dinners are shared, and most people experience a spike in joy and empathy. Non-Christians even join in Christmas prayers too.

Then, the inevitable happens! The dreadful December 26th. That’s the day when adults return to work, the Christmas music end, and the dude who was sharing universal love and peace only a few hours ago is now ready to bite your head off since he has so much work to catch up on. All that’s left is a collection of gifts that have lost their luster and a feeling wondering where all the mystery had gone.

A few years in the past when researching Christmas, I that people didn’t merely celebrate Christmas Day; they commemorated Christmas as a season. For the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day, they practiced Advent, a period of calm meditation and preparation to await the arrival of Jesus. Throughout Advent, there were no decorations, no lights, and few celebrations. The focus was about waiting because Jesus had not yet symbolically come.

Then, when December 24th arrived, the lights and trees were made ready. The relatives would go to midnight mass, which is a worship service, and when they returned, the celebration would start because Christmas Day, the arrival of Jesus, had come. They would put up the tree, sing the carols, turn on the lights, and feast with the relatives.

Thus, Christmas Day was just the dawning of Christmas as a period. The Twelve Days of Christmas actually do exist! They are the 12 days of celebration from Christmas Day (December 25th) throughout January 6th, the Christian holiday of Epiphany. The party continues, although less so than the 12 Days, throughout the Sunday after Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord (Jesus). However, the celebrating isn’t quite finished! Tradition says that Christmas celebrations can continue throughout February 2nd, which is the feast day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary (or Candlemas)

What does this mean for us? It depends. Keeping Advent like a quieter, more contemplative stretch before Christmas can help us become less stressed out throughout the parties, the shopping, and the chaos. We can still like the lights, the trees, the music, and the parties, but they’re combined with some Advent contemplation.

Then, once Christmas Day arrives, I keep the celebratory spirit alive through the Baptism of Jesus. I leave up the tree, keep the lights on, and listen to Christmas songs on CD or mp3. This system permits me to not merely stay even keeled leading up to Christmas, but avoids the post-Christmas letdown that used to arrive as clockwork on December 26th.