You feel it. That weird, subtle shift in the air right around late October when the humidity finally breaks and the plastic skeletons at the grocery store start looking a bit dusty. People start whispering that Christmas is a coming, and honestly, half of us panic while the other half start hoarding cinnamon-scented candles like they’re currency. It’s a strange, collective madness. We act like it’s a surprise every year, yet the liturgical and cultural calendars have been beating this drum for centuries.
The phrase itself—Christmas is a coming—is a bit of a linguistic ghost. It’s a rhythmic, old-school nursery rhyme opening that most people recognize but can’t quite place. "Christmas is a-coming, the geese are getting fat," the rhyme goes, followed by a plea to put a penny in the old man's hat. It’s fundamentally about preparation and charity. But in 2026, preparation looks less like fattening poultry and more like navigating shipping delays and trying to figure out if your "smart" tree lights are going to sell your data to a third-party broker.
The Real Timeline of the Holiday Creep
Why does it feel like the season starts earlier every single year? You aren't imagining things. This isn't just "holiday creep" in a vague sense. Retailers have a specific name for this: "Christmas Quarter Loading." Because consumer spending is so volatile, businesses move the "starting line" back to capture early-season budgets before the January credit card hangover sets in.
If you walk into a Costco in September, you’ll see trees. It’s jarring. By the time November 1st hits, the transition is violent. Halloween is scrubbed from the shelves in a single night. This creates a psychological state called "anticipatory fatigue." We spend so much time hearing that Christmas is a coming that by the time December 25th actually arrives, we’re exhausted. We’ve been living in a simulated December for eight weeks.
Historically, the season was much tighter. Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas, was the actual "coming" period. It was somber. It was about waiting. There was no "All I Want for Christmas Is You" on loop in November. People fasted. They didn't feast. The contrast between the dark, quiet wait of Advent and the sudden explosion of light on Christmas Day was the whole point. We've lost that contrast. Now, we just have a long, bright, expensive plateau of "festivity" that starts before the leaves are even off the trees.
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The Science of Holiday Stress and Why We Do It Anyway
What’s actually happening in your brain? Dr. Catherine Haden and other developmental psychologists have looked at how rituals affect us. Rituals provide a sense of agency in an unpredictable world. When you hear that Christmas is a coming, your brain starts a checklist. It’s a massive cognitive load.
There's this thing called the "holiday paradox." We claim to hate the stress, the traffic, and the frantic gift-hunting. Yet, we’d be devastated if it stopped. Research suggests that the nostalgia triggered by familiar smells—pine, nutmeg, woodsmoke—is one of the most powerful emotional anchors we have. It’s a hit of dopamine mixed with a longing for a past that probably wasn't as perfect as we remember.
Honestly, the pressure is mostly self-imposed. We try to recreate a Hallmark movie set in a 1,200-square-foot apartment. It’s a recipe for a breakdown. I’ve seen people cry over the price of butter in December. It’s not about the butter. It’s about the crushing weight of trying to make everything "magical" for everyone else while you’re running on four hours of sleep and a diet of peppermint bark.
Misconceptions About the "Coming" Season
- The 12 Days of Christmas: Most people think these are the days leading up to the holiday. Wrong. They actually start on December 25th and run to Epiphany on January 6th. The "coming" part is Advent; the "12 days" are the actual party.
- The "War" on Early Decorating: There’s no law. If putting up a tree on November 5th helps your clinical depression during the seasonal light shift, do it. Psychologists actually suggest that early decorators are often happier because it extends the positive dopamine spikes associated with holiday cues.
- The Origin of Gift-Giving: It’s not just a retail scam. While the Romans had Saturnalia, the modern gift-giving craze was largely solidified in the 1800s. Clement Clarke Moore’s "A Visit from St. Nicholas" did more to "sell" Christmas than almost any ad campaign in history. It shifted the holiday from a rowdy, outdoor street festival into a domestic, child-centered event.
Practical Logistics: When to Actually Panic
If Christmas is a coming and you haven't started your logistics, here is the reality check for the current year. Supply chains are better than they were a few years ago, but they aren't perfect.
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- Shipping Deadlines: If you’re sending stuff internationally, the "safe" window closes much earlier than the USPS website claims. Aim for the first week of December.
- The Grocery Strategy: Buy your non-perishables—flour, sugar, canned pumpkin, heavy-duty foil—in November. The price spikes in mid-December are predatory and predictable.
- Travel Math: If you haven't booked flights by the end of October, you're basically paying a "procrastination tax."
There's also the weird social obligation of the "Holiday Update." You know, the cards. Does anyone actually like writing these? Probably not. But we send them because it's a way of saying "I survived another year and I haven't forgotten you exist." It’s a low-stakes way to maintain a social network without having to actually make a phone call.
The Sustainability Problem
We need to talk about the trash. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, household waste in the U.S. increases by about 25%. That’s a lot of plastic tape and non-recyclable glitter. When we say Christmas is a coming, we’re also saying a mountain of landfill-bound cardboard is a coming.
People are starting to pivot. Furoshiki—the Japanese art of fabric wrapping—is gaining traction because it looks classy and doesn't involve a bin full of shredded paper on Christmas morning. Also, the "natural" look is back. Dried orange slices and actual evergreen branches are cheaper and look less like a plastic factory exploded in your living room.
Finding the Signal in the Noise
It’s easy to be cynical. You can mock the "Pumpkin Spice to Peppermint" pipeline all day long. But beneath the commercial layer, the fact that Christmas is a coming serves a genuine human purpose. It’s a hard stop. It’s the one time of year when the gears of the world actually grind to a halt for a day or two.
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We need that pause. The "coming" of the season is a countdown to a permission slip to rest. Even if the rest is chaotic and involves arguing with your uncle about politics over a lukewarm turkey, it’s a break from the standard grind. The lights are a middle finger to the darkness of winter. That matters.
The best way to handle the "coming" is to ignore the "shoulds." You don't should do anything. If you want to eat Chinese takeout and watch horror movies on the 25th, that's your prerogative. The holiday doesn't own you. You own the holiday.
Actionable Steps for a Sane Season
Instead of letting the season run over you like a freight train, take control of the timeline now. Start by auditing your "obligation list." If there’s a party you dread every year, find a polite excuse now. Your time is finite.
- Financial Boundary Setting: Decide on a "Gift Cap" today. Not in December when you're caught up in the mall music and the "Limited Time Offer" panic. Write the number down. Stick to it.
- The "One Thing" Rule: Pick one tradition that actually makes you happy. Maybe it's a specific movie. Maybe it's driving around to see lights. Do that one thing. Let the other ten things slide if they feel like chores.
- Digital Declutter: Unsubscribe from retail email lists now. You don't need 40 emails a day telling you that "Christmas is a coming" and you need a new toaster to celebrate it.
- Community Check-in: The "old man's hat" from the rhyme is real. Allocate a specific, small amount of your budget or time for a local charity. It grounds the season in something other than consumption.
The anticipation is usually more intense than the event itself. By managing the "coming," you actually leave room for the "arrival" to be something other than a relief that it’s finally over. Stop prepping for a perfect day and start prepping for a manageable one. The geese might be getting fat, but your stress levels don't have to follow suit. Get your pantry staples early, set your budget boundaries before the marketing hits its peak, and remember that the world won't end if you don't send out cards this year. Focus on the quiet moments before the noise gets too loud.