Perhaps the most common and simple understanding is that Christmas is one day: Christmas day. Santa comes in preparation the night before, laying out the presents to be unwrapped by those who have been expectantly waiting for the unexpected gifts for months in a room billowing with nostalgia.
Another common understanding is that Christmas is actually twelve days, like the song, although I'm not sure how many of us really get five golden rings, or even two turtledoves for that matter.
And perhaps you have your own understanding or your own way of thinking about it that came from family tradition or even just personal preference.
Whatever the case, when we start talking about the real Christmas, the Time of Christmas, as it has been passed down to us from Church tradition, then we do find a concrete answer to it all. In summary, here it is (in case you were wondering):
The Time of Christmas is the first "Time" in the Church Year and consists of three "Seasons", which are Advent Season, Christmas Season, and Epiphany Season. The Time of Christmas always begins on the first Sunday in Advent (well, technically it begins at sundown on the night before Advent 1). The length of this Time changes each year because it goes all the way to Ash Wednesday (which is determined by the ever changing date of Easter). This year, The Time of Christmas began on November 28 and will end on March 8; that's 101 days! That's just about the longest Christmas can be (since Easter is so late).
What people normally think of as Christmas is actually the Christmas Season, which is twelve days, as the song describes. Christmas Season goes from Christmas Day (technically, sundown on Christmas Eve) till January 5th (again, at sundown). January 6th is Epiphany, or, as some have called it, "The Gentile Christmas," because that is the reading of the Magi, the wise men from the east, worshiping the Boy, Jesus. And by the way, we have an Epiphany service this year on Epiphany, January 6 (next Thursday); and President Brian Saunders is coming to preach!
Anyhow, there seems to me to be a few things that contribute to the common misconception of this Time of year. First, and perhaps most obvious, is ignorance of the Church Year calendar. Since society, and therefore your workplace or school, doesn't run according the Church Year, most Christians don't really give it any thought. I would encourage you all to know and appreciate the Church Year in your devotional and prayer life (but more on that in a future post). Another reason for the misconception also has to do with society, but more specifically with the media. After Christmas day, there is this abrupt stop (for the most part) in anything Christmas in the media: Christmas songs aren't played on the radio, Christmas movies/programs stop, etc. And that's fine, the networks/stations have probably found that people just don't watch or listen to it anymore after Christmas day; which leads me to my third observation, namely, Christmas burnout. We are simply bombarded by so much 'Christmas' at the front end of the Time of Christmas, that we just...can't....go...on...like...this...anymore (*phew*). We just stop caring about Christmas. And that's fine, too. Because in the Church, Christmas overload is overload of the two parts that make up the word Christmas: Christ and mass (what we call "Service of the Sacrament"). And it's always good to be overloaded with both, although they are, technically one and the same: Christ is given in Mass and Mass is Christ given. So even when you have been overloaded with Christmas and just don't seem to care anymore, you may know for certain, with faith-in-Christ-certainty, that Christ continues to care for you with everlasting faithfulness. So come, continue to receive Him in preaching and the Sacrament, and be recovered by the One who covers you with His life-blood, even Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church Year, especially Christmas.
*(For an organized lay-out of the Church Year, look in our hymnal LSB, page x.)
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