We’re coming up on a big week for eves, the biggest of the year by far. I’m a big fan of eve-based holidays, especially since I’m something of a night owl.
The cruel irony is that when you’re a child, Christmas Eve is the hardest night of the year to fall asleep, while New Year’s Eve is the hardest night of the year to stay awake.
Halloween is an evening-based holiday but not quite an “eve.” Christmas Eve holds its own as the undercard to the bigger main event of Christmas.
Meanwhile, New Year’s Eve is an upstart of a holiday usually stealing the show from New Year’s Day, except among college football fans and rose parade aficionados.
Thanksgiving Eve isn’t considered a holiday, even though for twenty-somethings it can often be the most magical night of the year.
Many holiday eves’ strength alters based upon when they occur. For example, July 3rd has way less impact when it falls on a Tuesday but is a true holiday when it falls on a Sunday and creates a three-day weekend.
Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve always fall on the same day of the week as each other, like bookends to a week-long binge of sugar cookies, champagne, and chocolates pulled out of socks.
This year they both fall on a Monday, which Garfield must hate.
I rarely disagree with Garfield, but I love having Christmas Eve on a Monday. It builds a weekend-long ramp up that helps usher in the feeling of peace one wants on Christmas.
2018 isn’t one of those years where you shut down at noon on December 24th and are suddenly thrust into Christmas Eve (except for our friends in retail or package delivery occupations). No, for most of us, we’re getting a few days of downtime prior to the main event this year.
The seven-day interval between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve is always a special time. I’m happy not to travel this year (I usually spend it visiting in-laws), but my wife is far too pregnant so we just plan to relax with a few quick road trips to visit with local family members.
*Trigger warning for millennials unaccustomed to controversial takes*
I like Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day.
This hasn’t always been the case and I suspect it will change back once my daughter is born. Christmas Eve is known for the two things a childless man pushing forty most values: peace and quiet.
The world always seems more peaceful on Christmas Eve. Probably because all of the world’s demons are either busy haunting rich curmudgeons or resting up to possess children on Christmas morning to attack wrapping paper with the fury of a thousand dogs fighting over a single bone.
At the opposite end of the bookshelf, I haven’t much cared for New Year’s Eve lately.
It was a big part of my life as a young adult. Before that, I always associated it with Patrick Dempsey’s wild adventure in Can’t Buy Me Love where he went from zero to hero and then crashed down in flames at a New Year’s Eve party.
New Year’s Eve is a simple holiday where all you have to do is get drunk and watch a ball drop. Anyone can do that!
New Year’s Day is trickier, I never know what I’m supposed to do. Eat right and exercise, I suppose? Either way, I’m out.
The latest New Year’s Eve trend is to show children a pre-recorded ball drop that lets them experience New Year’s Eve joy without disrupting either their sleep schedules or Mom and Dad’s buzz.
While I understand those impulses (and will probably use the techniques as a parent), it seems to lose something of the magical connectedness feeling when most, if not all, people in our time zone are simultaneously aware of the present moment and the breadth of possibilities the new year holds.
No matter where you experience the upcoming holiday eves, I wish all of my family, friends, and Uncommon Discourse readers a season to remember bookended by evenings that suit you just right.
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