Most years I am absolutely floored at how quickly everyone seems to end everything Christmassy after Christmas Day is over. It's surreal sometimes how we go for a month and a half of Christmas in every direction at all times, to there being none of that, literally overnight from Dec 25th into the morning of Dec 26th. People seem so quick to just dismiss it nowadays. Trees out on the sidewalk before New Years. Even bringing it up no more than a few days later as if it is still current can be awkward since most people already consider it to be completely over. Nevermind bringing it up in January, more than once, where you'll practically get weird side eye looks from people wondering why you're still thinking about Christmas.
And it's weird because I really strongly feel like it didn't used to be that way. Growing up during the 90s, I never once felt like after Christmas Day it was all over. The assumption was always that it was still very much the Christmas season until at least through New Years and for a few days after. And I don't mean that in a religious sense of observing the holiday. I just mean in terms of how I viewed the season as a whole. Even the night of New Years Eve always seemed to have a more Christmassy feel to it, as if it was like a follow up to it, than it just being a separate holiday altogether. I'm sure some of that was a result of my own desire and efforts to continue to do Christmassy things, which might have made it seem like that's what everybody else was doing. And then being in Catholic school all those years always kind of facilitated throughout the whole year a lot of things that are heavily promoted during Christmas time, which I recognize many people didn't have. So in that sense, I could see how it might have been my own perception of things that I just assumed was how everybody else thought. But even considering all that, I still have this very strong sense that it used to be much more acceptable during that week between Christmas and New Years to continue to do Christmassy things. I even remember TV networks continued to show a lot more Christmas content during that week than they do now. And I always kept that mentality as I grew older, and still do to this day. Granted, I got busy in my late teens/early 20s and the holidays were kind of a secondary thought when they were here. But now that I'm a little older and more settled, and my passion for the holidays has really become a major part of my adult life, it's something I've obviously been paying attention to. And I find that it just isn't the case anymore that people see it like that.
Or maybe they never did, and it truly was just my own perception of things. I'm not sure if I'll ever truly know.
But it is something I've been seeking to answer, so if anybody has any thoughts about it, just about whether my notions were correct or not, I'd love to hear it.