12 Reasons Christmas is—Objectively—the Best Time of Year
As a (former) wedding photographer in Canada, everyone assumes that the summer is the most popular time for weddings. Makes sense, right? Best opportunity for warm weather. Least opportunity for rain. You hope that it’s fairly predictable.
But, year after year, the fall was typically my biggest season. September, October, and sometimes November are just nutso. Trying to keep my head above water, editing my life away, while scheduling countless engagement sessions and family shoots. A few years ago, it was an average of a one shoot (wedding, family, or engagement) every third day in the month. When you keep in mind all the other elements of running a business, it was super overwhelming.
Because of this, I started realizing how much I anticipated the arrival of winter every year. By the time the weather had gotten significantly colder and the snow had begun to fall, it usually meant the bulk of my editing was behind me and the opportunity to relax after working countless weeks of overtime was finally here.
Among countless reasons, this is one of the biggest reasons I’ve grown a personal affection for Christmas. But I think it runs much deeper.
Winter isn’t the best season.
Canadians love to complain about winter. And after Valentine’s day? Sure. I totally get it. The slushy, holding-on-too-long weather gets tiresome when all we’re craving is warm summer days. But everything pre-February? Deal with it, wimpy Canadians! I have little sympathy for you.
I’m not arguing winter is the best season. But I do believe the beginning of it brings about something magical.
A morning in our pyjamas with these two cuties? Nothing better.
Here are my list of reasons—in no particular order—why Christmas is the best time of year, objectively.
1. A Collective Celebration
I don’t now that I could actually name a single person I’ve ever met who actively does not celebrate Christmas. And I don’t mean people that don’t make a big deal out of December 25th. There are plenty of those people. I am referring to people who, in absolutely no way, make any sort of special plan, get-together, or celebration of literally any kind in late December. I don’t believe they exist.
Christmas is exciting because it is sort of like the whole world has a birthday on the same day. Birthdays are fun because, if you’re lucky, it’s a time when the people who love you somehow remind you or wish you well on a special day of the year. A birthday is a miniature celebration of your life, and Christmas is a collective version of that.
Christmas is the time of year people make room in their schedule to travel and see the people they love. How could you ever be mad at that?
I’m an introvert and a homebody (as I’ll discuss further below), but Christmas being an excuse to make plans with the people I love, and indulge in a bunch of my other reasons below.
2. The Anticipation
It’s one thing to have get-togethers and gift-giving, but the lead-up to all of that is just as important. As you see that day on your calendar drawing closer and closer, your excitement builds.
Can those days sometimes turn into let-downs? Of course. But as a wedding photographer, I firmly believe the anticipation of an event (the wedding day, or the day you get your photos back, for example) transforms it into something bigger than what it would be otherwise.
3. The Gift-Giving
The purpose of Christmas is not about material things: let me be abundantly clear. But as someone who thoroughly enjoys giving gifts to the people I love (as an expression of that love), giving gifts is incredible.
On Betty’s first Christmas, she was as excited as her dada about it
As a parent for (coming up on) 4 Christmases now, I can honestly tell you that giving thoughtful gifts is what it’s about for me, way more than receiving gifts. At the time I’m writing this blog (October 30, 2021), Christmas is still 2 full months away, but Leanne and I have already started stockpiling gifts for the kids on the top shelf in our closet (shhhh don’t tell them). The excitement I have to see the kids open those gifts is hard to contain.
Whether your gift is something you’ve made yourself, or it’s just something special you’ve picked out for someone near and dear to you, there is hardly a better feeling than watching someone be overwhelmed with joy about a thoughtful gift you’ve chosen for them.
4. The Movies
As polarizing as the next item on this list, I love watching Christmas movies. Doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen them before. Half the fun of Christmas, for me, is in the anticipation, and while the gifts and the get-togethers are a part of that, watching my favourite Christmas movies is a gigantic part of that.
Here are some of my favourite Christmas movies so you can know how compatible we are as friends:
Klaus (2019)
The Grinch (2018)
Elf (2003)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Love Actually (2003)
The Polar Express (2004)
This is certainly not the complete list, but these are just some of my top picks. Rarely does a Christmas season come and go without me having watched at least 70% of this list for the umpteenth time.
The beauty of loving Christmas movies is that they don’t have to be Christmas movies. I know tons of people who rewatch the Lord of the Rings series every year around this time. Die Hard is arguably not a Christmas movie but it certainly has become one over time. Catch Me If You Can isn’t exclusively a Christmas movie, but it’s mentioned so many times in the movie that I always crave it in the winter.
You get the idea of what I’m saying here. There is no shortage of Christmas movies you can watch, all depending on your tastes and interests. They become a part of you over time. They make you feel those feelings that get you into the spirit.
5. The Music
My favourite Christmas music is from the mid 1900s; Let it Snow, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, White Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Beautiful weather + Beautiful wife = A deadly combination
Leanne loves all the old hymns: Silent Night, Mary Did You Know, Joy to the World, Angels We Have Heard on High.
No matter your tastes, there are options for everyone. Driving in the car, making dinner in the kitchen, walking around the mall: this music heightens the experience of the season.
If you like the idea of Christmas music but feel like it’s all been overplayed, I highly recommend Frank Sinatra’s Ultimate Christmas on Spotify.
6. The Food
Everyone knows the classics that get pulled out this time of year: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, ham (just kidding, I hate ham), cranberry sauce. All of these are delicious and worthy of celebrating.
But I’m talking about the desserts. The snacks. The cookies, the church windows, the pies, the cheesecakes, the trifles, everything. I don’t know that there’s a single traditional Christmas dessert, and I love it. Give it all to me.
If you’re a celebrater of Christmas, you probably have a favourite food you anticipate (#2) this time of year.
7. The Tree
Don’t care if you’re a real-tree-only type of person or a we-store-it-in-the-basement type of person. The joy that is setting up a Christmas tree is second-to-none.
Even Dobby likes getting in on the Christmas decorating
Chances are your mom decorated the tree in a particular way every year, and it becomes a part of your tradition, or at least becomes a fond memory.
Did you parents keep presents under the tree (or were you the type of kid who would’ve opened them early)? Are the ornaments on your tree little keepsakes of years past? Are your lights white or coloured? Do you put a star on top of your tree or an angel?
One of only a few images we have of our first apartment as a married couple. We got to celebrate Christmas here shortly before having to pack up and leave. This will always be a special memory for us.
Aside from all of the fun that is decorating a tree, what I love about a tree is the space is takes up in your home.
Yep. It’s a little awkward to rearrange your furniture to accommodate this big plant in your house with decorations and lights, but what a fantastic, visible, 8 foot tall reminder of all the excitement that is upcoming in the months or weeks or days ahead.
8. The Traditions
I’ve already touched on this in countless ways already, but there’s still more traditions that many families have I won’t even know to reference.
Outdoor fun is a big part of it. Sledding, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, skating, hockey, snowball fights, building forts, peeing in the snow, snow angels during hot tub visits, carolling. There’s just so much that anyone can adopt depending on their interests.
Having grown up in a small town, my family (for example) hired a local guy to have 2 giant horses pull our family (with cousins and aunts and uncles) around in a forest in an open sleigh. Like the song! It is an experience I can’t wait to recreate with my own kids someday. Bundling up with two layers of gloves, hats, scarves, sitting on hay bales under wool blankets, singing songs as we get tugged through a forest, trying hard not to fall off the sleigh? Amazing.
Then there’s late night Christmas markets with twinkling lights. Christmas decor. Lights on the front of your home. Wreaths. Holly. Mistletoe. Yes, yes, yes.
Leanne gifted me my favourite typewriter for Christmas one year. That’s probably another reason the two are associated for me
I use my typewriters a little more often every winter because life has finally let up just enough that I have more free time to myself. I’ll write poems or send letters to friends I love. I’ll dream up new worlds and spend time playing in my imagination. Christmas isn’t really connected to typewriters, but because I’ve associated the two in my mind, I rarely get through a season without plunking away on one of my old machines.
What I’m getting at is: even if your tradition has very little to do with Christmas, making it a part of your annual routine makes the collective experience that much more enjoyable.
9. The Generosity
What happens when we’re steeped in classic movies with good morals, listening to music about the gift of love and peace on earth? I believe we see people become more generous.
Whether it’s gifting someone less fortunate, donating to a charitable initiative, giving up our time, celebrating someone who gets overlooked, inviting in a stranger to eat with us, or paying for the coffee of the person behind us in line at the drive thru, I think there’s a spirit of generosity that spreads like a pandemic that’s taken over the globe (too soon?).
Christmas tickles before opening gifts
A stranger helping a stranger tow their car out of the ditch. The little extra we do for people just for a smile. The “Merry Christmas” with a smile from your grocery store cashier.
Seeing strangers be kinder to other strangers is one of the things that transforms me most about this time of year. No matter how jaded, no matter how cynical, no matter how Scrooge-y.
10. A Reason to Stay Indoors
I like being home. The world is an exhausting place to me most days, so excuses (like “bad” weather or a lack of sunlight) to stay home make me feel less guilty about not enjoying the outdoors.
In the summer, being inside with air conditioning when you should be outside having a picnic in a beautiful park feels like cheating. You’re not enjoying the gift being given to you.
A casual evening of hanging out on the couch, watching movies in the lead-up to Christmas
But when the snow is coming down outside, roads are closed because it’s too slick to drive, the sun has long set and it’s only 5:30pm, and your family is home with nowhere else to be? Absolute heaven on earth for me. I love feeling a little warm when the weather outside is freezing. It reminds me how lucky I am.
11. The Beauty
Walking around after a fresh snowfall—before the snowplows and salt trucks have had a chance to clear the roads and muddy up the precipitation—is a new kind of peaceful. Literally, snow is a sound insulator, so you notice that the world feels quieter after a good snowfall.
I love seeing two feet of snow in everyone’s front yards. While I don’t claim to enjoy shovelling the snow in my yard, there’s a secret part of me that thoroughly enjoys it. I routinely clear my neighbour’s sidewalks and driveway too. Not because I have to, but because it’s fun to be generous and save them a little bit of manual labour when I’ve already suited up.
Tell me this isn’t insanely beautiful and I’ll tell you you’re a liar
The photographer in me loves the snow because it brings a sense of coherence to a scene. There are fewer colours to combat in a photo, and a palette with a few key colours is more easily made up. Fresh, untouched snow in that beautiful puffy blanket is something I love to see. I also love destroying it.
But the beauty doesn’t end with the snow. It’s the Christmas lights on your front porch. It’s the glow of a tree in someone’s window. It’s the Santa hats of store employees, the special cups at Starbucks, the covered pine trees, the parades, the wrapping paper.
51 Fullerton Avenue looks particularly good this time of year
You see what I mean about how collective the Christmas experience is, right? Down to some of the smallest details, everyone finds their own way to express their joy of Christmas. And every minute effort makes me feel that little bit cheerier.
12. The New Year
And of course, when all is said and done, when the the anticipation is over, the gifts have been given, the movies watched, the music listened, the food eaten, the tree put away, the traditions executed, the generosity on display, the indoors stayed, and the beauty enjoyed, we have a new year to look forward to.
I’m not a real big believer in resolutions, but I am a small believer. And the fact of the matter is, there are plenty of people that believe in them.
We alternate between a green tree or a white tree depending on how we’re feeling that year. The bonus of a white tree is the whole thing glows
Christmas is the perfect book-end to your year. It’s a time to look back on all your victories, all your failures, and reflect on how you want to be different—be better—going forward. It goes hand in hand with the new year.
I love the opportunities that we manifest with the excitement of a new year. I love the challenge to better ourselves. I love the excitement of what lay ahead; the collective spirit that things can be better than they’ve been.
Bonus: A Realignment to Jesus
If you’re not a Christian, this one isn’t important to you. But as a Christian, this one is arguably #1.
Contrary to popular belief, no, Jesus was not born on December 25th, 0000. Most scholarship thinks he might’ve been born in September of that year. But I love Christmas because Christians have made it a holiday where we realign ourselves with the reason we exist: Jesus Christ.
The kids playing with their Fisher-Price manger scene
I’m a big fan of the Advent season. I love hearing the story of the birth of Christ again and again. I love the visuals of the manger. I love being inspired to take my faith more seriously every year.
The celebration of Jesus just amplifies every aspect that I already love about Christmas. It all goes hand in hand.
See? I Told You. Christmas is the Best
Show me a time of year that accomplishes all of these things better than Christmas does. I’ll wait.
Not much better than a fresh snowfall (It also helps to have a really cool front door)
You can groan about the weather or lament having to put your winter tires on again or having to warm up your vehicle before you hop in, but everything else that accompanies the season makes those minor annoyances well worth the hassle.
I’ll take the snowpants and the mitts and the scarves. The early sunsets and the dark mornings. I want it all, because when Christmas arrives, the whole world slows down a little. We remember why the rat race we all run in is not the primary focus on our lives.
Most Canadians I know don’t love the changing seasons, but I will always welcome it. We are blessed to live in the great white north. Christmas proves it.
