Why Christmas (Feels Like It) Comes Faster Each Year
Editorial Assistants: Charikleia Lampraki and Elena Benini.
Note: An earlier version of this article has been published in the German version of In-Mind.
Christmas is just around the corner, and with it comes that familiar sense that time is speeding up. Do you feel the same way? In this blog post, you’ll learn why this might be the case.
Figure 1.
Gingerbread cookies and Speculoos are already lining supermarket shelves, the first twinkling string lights are popping up around neighborhoods, and market stalls are beginning to take shape. It’s that time of year again: Christmas is just around the corner. And, as always, it feels like it’s arriving faster than ever. Do you feel that too?
If you do, you’re not alone. A recent study with 789 British participants found that 76% of them agreed that Christmas seems to come around quicker each year [1]. Of course, from a strict calendar perspective, that’s not true, since there are always 364 days between two Christmases (or 365 in leap years). So, why does it feel like the time between the holidays is shrinking?
In their study, Ruth Ogden and colleagues [1] looked into why this might be. During the pre-Christmas period, participants completed surveys on various psychological
factors. They were asked how much they agreed with the statement that Christmas arrives faster each year. They also shared their enjoyment of Christmas and rated their overall quality of life in different areas. Finally, they estimated how often they thought about the passage of time and how often they made “prospective
memory errors” in daily life, i.e., forgetting to do something they intended to do in the future.
The results revealed that the
feeling of Christmas coming faster each year was stronger for those who were particularly excited about the holiday. Positive emotions, it seems, can make time feel like it’s passing more quickly. Additionally, the quality of social relationships seemed to amplify this
feeling – if you’re surrounded by friends and family, time tends to fly by. On the other hand, if someone feels socially isolated or disconnected, time might feel slower.
Another key factor was how much attention participants paid to the passing of time and how many prospective
memory errors they made. Those who often thought about time or made more
memory errors related to future tasks were more likely to feel like time was speeding up. The authors compare this to the way time feels like it’s racing when you’re focused on an upcoming event, like a looming deadline. For many people, Christmas can be a moment of reflection on the year that’s coming to an end, which might also make it feel like time is flying by – especially if some of last year’s goals or plans are still unfulfilled.
So, what can we conclude from this study? The authors identified a few psychological mechanisms that may explain why time feels like it’s speeding up. However, these effects are fairly small, suggesting there are likely other
factors at play. For example, the early marketing push for Christmas with holiday-themed products appearing earlier and earlier in stores might also influence how we perceive time. Despite this, the results show that the sense of Christmas coming earlier each year isn’t just a cliché, but something rooted in individual psychological experiences. Exactly how these experiences work is still not fully understood.
By the way, the
feeling of time speeding up isn’t exclusive to Christmas. The study also looked at people’s experience of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, which, like Christmas, is a time for reflection and spiritual renewal. Here, a similar pattern emerged: 70% of Iraqi participants agreed that Ramadan seems to come faster each year. In this case, similar psychological
factors were at play.
Bibliography
[1] R. Ogden, S. S. J. Alatrany, A. M. Flaiyah, H. Ali Sayyid ALdrraji, H. Musa, A. S. S. Alatrany, and D. Al-Jumeily, "Distortions to the passage of time for annual events: Exploring why Christmas and Ramadan feel like they come around more quickly each year," PLOS One, vol. 19, no. 7, Art. no. e0304660, Jul. 2024, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304660.
Figure Source
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