Why Can’t Christmas be in February?

Every year Christmas comes and goes and I always say the same thing – why does it have to be in December? Whose bright idea was it to put the end of the calendar year and the most demanding social holiday within a week of each other? I should get that guy’s (or girl’s – we can’t be sexist!) number and give him/her a piece of my mind for really messing it up when it came to spacing out important events.

How are you supposed to cram everything in you want to in such a short period of time? Seeing everyone and buying everything to the point of physical, mental and financial exhaustion can be one of the major reasons to take a vacation soon after, even if you just had some ‘time off’ around this time of year. Some years, I’d rather be working so I’d have an excuse to sit out a few of these forced social gatherings. Okay wait, I take that back – I’d never rather be working.

But if Christmas was pushed back a few weeks or months to let’s say, February, wouldn’t that make everything much better?

There are many reasons I could list but the one that really sticks out to me are the lights and pretty displays done up so wonderfully. In countries that go all out for Christmas, it can be a real shock to have it all come down as soon as January rolls around. If ever there was a time that needed bright lights, festive drinks and time off, it would be the dead of winter – not four days into it! Places that actually get cold enough for snow quite often don’t have anything these days by the time Christmas arrives, making white Christmases rarer than blue moons. So why not hold off until February?

The same goes for travelling. It’s really frustrating to have one of the best party times next to one of the biggest buzz-kill family events that you pretty much have to attend. If Christmas were later, it would be easier to jet off somewhere hot or scenic and party in style for New Year’s but then be able to get home to see your parents and hometown friends a few months later. You can make the argument that Carnival takes care of this in February… and I would yell at you for being a pain:p

I really enjoy Christmas and I’m… lukewarm to New Year’s as it is, but maybe spacing them out would take some of the pressure off the one and amp up the other? I’d like to be able to jet off to the Caribbean for New Year’s without it being a mad rush/alienating some family gathering that inevitably extends well beyond December 25^th. Of course I also need money to afford these things… but we all know with my dazzling personality, that is easier to work out than calendar changes.

I guess what I’m really just saying is… I need a holiday. Is that too much to ask?