Daughter of Claus: Day I

The event and microseason of Nearly Christmas

On the jukebox: Merry Christmas Baby by Otis Redding

Nearly Christmas is an event. Yes, it is a time of year - the run up to the festive season proper — and it is a microseason in its own right, but it is also a specific date: the 17th of November.

Growing up, my birthday was the last of the family birthdays. In our family of eight, there are two in May, two in June, two in July, then my older sister in September, and finally me in November. At some point over the years, it just became family folklore that the day after my birthday - all personal anniversaries having been celebrated for the year - was Nearly Christmas.

This isn’t to say that secret Christmas preparations didn’t start until then - they were usually well underway by the time Nearly Christmas rolled round - but it did mean that no-one in the family could deny the Christmas season was getting nearer and, very importantly for excitable young children, no-one could complain about Christmas music being played sneakily.

When I got older and was living in Essex, the people I shared a house with and those next door also started gearing up for Christmas around the same time, as they would always watch Love Actually, their first Christmas viewing of the season, on the Sunday five weeks before Christmas (seeing as the early scenes in the film are set five weeks before Christmas). Here in the United Kingdom, the second half of November also signals the start of Christmas Light Switch-Ons across the country (or at least it does for those areas which have not cancelled such occasions in light of recent national economic turmoil).

The tradition of Nearly Christmas is something that I have carried over into my own family. Following the birth of my daughter Elfi last December, there was much discussion about what that might mean for our calendar of family microseasons, given my birthday was no longer the last in the year. It took me until early October to decide (nay, decree) that Nearly Christmas would indeed still start on the 17th day of November this year and forever after; but that Christmas itself, the official festive season, would now begin on the 9th day of December, the day after Elfi’s birthday.

Though I have personally never put up my own decorations any earlier than the month of December, I am of the firm belief that a season of goodwill and delight - such as Christmas is to me and mine - should be enjoyed as much as possible. And I hope that, throughout the thirty days that follow, you’ll join me - and join in - as I share a little seasonal joy throughout the digital pages of this, my second seasonal notebook, Daughter of Claus.

I would love to hear about your own Christmas folklore and memories. When do you start counting down to Christmas?