Late December has a particular quality. Offices empty out. Emails slow to a trickle. The pressure that defines most of the year lifts, at least temporarily. Christmas, however you observe it, creates something increasingly rare: collective time off when most of the world agrees to step back together.
The Origins
Christmas is a festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated on December 25 across much of the globe. The gospels of Luke and Matthew tell the story of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, with angels announcing the news to shepherds and magi traveling to bring gifts.
Nobody knows the actual date of Jesus’s birth. In the early fourth century, church leaders chose December 25, which coincided with the winter solstice in the Roman Empire. By the end of that century, major church figures had established this date as standard. The celebration gradually spread through the Christian world, though it took centuries to become universal and faced resistance along the way.
The Complicated History
Christmas hasn’t always been welcome. In 17th century England, Puritans viewed Christmas celebrations as excessive and unbiblical. When Puritans came to power after the English Civil War, they banned Christmas in 1647. The response was immediate and intense. Riots erupted. Canterbury was controlled by pro-Christmas protesters for weeks, with people defiantly hanging holly and shouting support for the exiled king.
Colonial America saw similar conflicts. The Pilgrims deliberately worked through their first December 25 in the New World, making a point about their rejection of the holiday. Boston went further, outlawing Christmas observance entirely in 1659. That ban was lifted after a couple decades, but Christmas didn’t really take hold in Boston until the 1800s.
The conflict wasn’t just theological. It was about who had authority over how people spent their time and what kind of celebrations were acceptable in a properly ordered society.
How It Became What It Is
Charles Dickens changed Christmas. When he published A Christmas Carol in 1843, he gave the holiday a new narrative. His story portrayed Christmas as a time for family, for generosity toward those with less, for setting aside grievances and reconnecting with what matters. The book was immediately popular and shaped how people across the English-speaking world understood the holiday.
Other Victorian-era developments cemented the modern Christmas. The Christmas tree, introduced to Britain by German-born Queen Charlotte, became widespread after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were photographed with theirs in 1848. Christmas cards appeared. Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, eventually known as Twas the Night Before Christmas, established the Santa Claus story that children still hear.
The Victorians reimagined Christmas as domestic and sentimental, focused on children and home and togetherness. That vision has lasted. Most of what we consider traditional about Christmas actually dates from this period, not from ancient practices.
Different Traditions, Different Dates
Some Eastern Orthodox churches, including those in Russia, Georgia, and Serbia, use the Julian calendar for religious observances. Their December 25 falls on what the Gregorian calendar calls January 7. Other Orthodox churches adopted the modern calendar in 1923 and celebrate on December 25. Armenians traditionally celebrate Christ’s birth together with his baptism on January 6.
These variations reflect deep theological and cultural traditions. They’re reminders that even a holiday as widespread as Christmas takes different forms depending on who’s celebrating and why.
Global Reach
Christmas has spread well beyond Christian populations. Japan celebrates Christmas enthusiastically despite having very few Christians. People exchange gifts, eat special meals, decorate homes and streets. The holiday has been adopted as a cultural event, stripped of most religious meaning but retaining the focus on celebration and gift-giving.
Similar patterns appear across Asia, the Middle East, and other regions with small Christian populations. Christmas has become a global cultural phenomenon that transcends its religious origins while still holding religious significance for those who observe it that way.
What the Holiday Provides
Christmas does something most of us desperately need but struggle to justify: it gives us permission to stop working. Not for an afternoon or a weekend, but for several days. And not just individually, but collectively. Most of the people you work with are also off. Clients are unavailable. The whole system agrees to pause.
That matters more than it might seem. Without external justification, many of us find it almost impossible to truly disconnect. There’s always something that could be done, some email that should be answered, some project that needs attention. The internal pressure to keep going is relentless.
Christmas removes that pressure. For a few days, it’s not just acceptable but expected that you’ll be unreachable, unavailable, focused on something other than work. The holiday creates a container for rest that many of us wouldn’t create for ourselves.
A Note for You
We know the pressure. We know what it’s like to feel like you can’t afford to slow down, like taking your foot off the gas means falling behind. Women especially feel this. We’ve fought for every bit of ground we’ve gained. The thought of stepping back, even temporarily, can feel threatening.
But sustainable success requires rest. The most effective people aren’t the ones who never stop. They’re the ones who know how to stop, who build recovery into their patterns, who understand that rest isn’t the opposite of achievement but the foundation for it.
Christmas gives you that opportunity. Take it. Set the out-of-office. Close the laptop. Be with your family. See your friends. Watch terrible holiday movies. Sleep in. Do nothing in particular. Whatever the holiday means to you personally, let it include actual rest.
You’ve earned it. And you’ll come back stronger for having taken it.
From all of us at Powerful Business Women, we wish you a peaceful and restorative December.
Merry Christmas.Ā
