Christmas
The Lovely In-Between: Things to Do Between Christmas and New Year
Christmas isn't over. January hasn't started. You don't need to choose a side yet. A slower, grown-up guide to Twixmas.
7 min read
“You can be in between. January can wait.”
There is a strange little stretch of the year when almost nothing seems particularly urgent.
Christmas Day has happened. The presents have been opened. The big meals have been cooked. New Year's Eve is somewhere ahead.
And for a few days in between, normal life appears to have temporarily misplaced you.
I love those days.
They have a name you'll increasingly see everywhere: Twixmas.
The days between Christmas and New Year.
But I prefer to think of them as the lovely in-between.
Because I don't want to use them to rush Christmas out of the house. And I certainly don't want to start January early.
First: leave Christmas alone
Our Christmas decorations stay up. All of them.
The trees are still lit. The house still feels like Christmas. I usually take everything down two or three days after New Year's Eve, depending on how the calendar falls and when I have to go back to work.
Until then, Christmas gets to stay.
January will get its turn.
Eat the nice things
There are leftovers, but we've also deliberately bought things for these days.
Nice bread rolls. Snacks. Crisps. Things that can become lunch without requiring a recipe.
Twixmas food is less about cooking and more about excellent foraging.
Go for a proper winter walk
We live close to the woods, so this is something Bas and I naturally do during these days.
Coat on. Into the woods. Fresh air after days of Christmas food and sitting indoors. Then home again while it's still very much Christmas inside.
Because coming home feels even better when you've been cold first.
Take one little day trip
We often go to Antwerp during this period. It's close enough for us to make an easy day of it and at this time of year the city is still wonderfully festive.
Wander. Have lunch. Get coffee. Look at the lights. Come home again.
One good day out can be enough.
Do the jobs that have been quietly annoying you
This might sound suspiciously like I've smuggled Life Admin into Christmas.
I have. But only the satisfying kind.
A cupboard. Something on the attic. Laundry that could finally be completely caught up. A little area that needs reorganising.
Not because I've started a New Year transformation programme. Simply because I have time.
Don't turn Twixmas into a reset challenge
Christmas finishes and suddenly we're being instructed to optimise ourselves.
Declutter the entire house. Set twelve goals. Organise your finances. Become a new person.
No thank you.
If sorting a cupboard feels satisfying, sort the cupboard. If sitting on the sofa eating crisps feels satisfying, I have equally good news.
Rest and putting your house in order can exist in the same week.
Catch up on ordinary life
Put a wash on. Tidy something. Make another coffee. Watch something. Go for a walk. Eat a leftover.
There doesn't need to be a productivity narrative attached to any of it.
Pottering is an entirely legitimate Twixmas activity.
Spend time together without organising an occasion
One of the most important things about this week for us is simply having time together.
Maybe the woods. Maybe a day out. Maybe nothing.
Having an empty calendar and allowing it to stay a little empty.
Keep one more Christmas evening
Tree lights on. Something good to eat. Film or television. No guests. No presents. No Christmas Day expectations.
Just enjoying the house while it still looks the way you spent weeks making it look.
You don't have to end Christmas just because Christmas Day ended.
Then, when you're ready, end it properly
Usually two or three days after New Year, shortly before I go back to work, everything goes back into its boxes and up to the attic.
Then I clean. Properly.
After weeks of Christmas abundance, suddenly everything feels spacious and clean again. It clears my head too.
The reset feels good because I waited until I actually wanted the reset.
A Simple Twixmas Rhythm
Keep Christmas, go outside, leave time unclaimed
- Keep Christmas up. Eat what you already have. Go outside. Take one little trip if you feel like it. Sort one thing that's been bothering you. Leave plenty of time completely unclaimed.
- You don't need to make the final week of the year productive enough to justify it.
- You can be in between.
- January can wait.
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Written by Esther
Esther is a photographer and storyteller, and the founder of Essy's Essentials - a seasonal home for stories, rituals, recipes and everyday luxuries.
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