As our culture becomes more and more post-Christian, it is important for our own spiritual health to make a distinction between people who celebrate Ex-mas and Christmas.
People who celebrate Ex-mas keep the feast by spending lots of money giving gifts and pass much of the first three weeks of December eating and drinking more than they should. For this reason, they find themselves stressed and busy throughout most of the month of December. At family gatherings, which are often contentious, they focus on unrealistic goals of re-creating a perfect time in the family's past that never really existed. Celebrations of Ex-mas have a bitter aftertaste, as by Dec. 26 when one is taking down the Christmas tree and other holiday decorations, one begins thinking about New Year's resolutions that involve losing all the weight gained during the Ex-mas festivities and how to pay down swelling credit card balances.
Then there are those who celebrate Christmas.
Those who celebrate Christmas prepare for their celebration of the Christmas season by observing the season of Advent, which begins four Sundays before the 25th of December. During Advent, those who are preparing to celebrate Christmas go to confession at least once, if not weekly. They attend Mass even on some weekdays in addition to Sundays. Instead of eating and drinking excessively, those who celebrate Christmas practice extra personal prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during the Advent season in order to prepare for the twelve day feast that begins on December 25 and ends on January 6. They come into the Christmas season having lost weight from fasting throughout the month of December and so have plenty of room in their souls and bellies to enjoy the feast. They keep their decorations up until well into January and do not worry about having sent out cards and purchased gifts by the 25th, because that day is only the first day of a twelve day feast.
We do well to keep Christ in Christmas by keeping Christmas out of Advent. My own experience is that celebrating Christmas is much more joyful when one decides not to observe Ex-mas.