Twixmas
The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is called “ROMJUL,” a Norwegian term utilized to describe the actual time period between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day; translated, it literally means, “Between Christmas.” From the Old Norse “rumheilagr” meaning: “a space or a break from the strictness of holidays.” It is a culturally recognized interval for rest, decompressing from holiday stressors, and enjoying a period of “unstructured time” before the new year begins. Some people call it “Twixmas,” others refer to the time period as “The Dead Week,” “The Void,” “Feral Week,” or “Chrimbo Limbo!” Twixmas is the most popular term derived from the Old English word “betwixt,” meaning between, signifying “a cozy pause.” The Dead Week, The Void and Feral Week all highlight the feeling of being in “no man’s land, doing very little physically and mentally, and losing track of days!” Chrimbo Limbo captures the “limbo state” where it is “difficult to tell WHAT day of the week it is!” Whatever terminology you use, the sentiment regarding the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day remains the same: the time period reflects a relaxed, slightly disoriented feeling of “The Holiday Gap,” where time seems to slow way down and “normal” routines fade away into the distance.
It goes without saying that the holiday season can be an overly emotional and exceedingly stressful time of year. According to a 2023 poll by the American Psychological Association, 89% of U.S. adults “absolutely, definitively feel stress during the holiday season.” Psychologists share their “favorite research-backed tips to help you create calm and amplify joy.” Would all of you www.ribbqnews.com Readers like to guess WHAT activity ranks Number 1 as a coping skill for reducing worry, anxiety, tensity, and pressure? YUP. The #1 suggestion is to: Cook a Favorite Dish or Bake Your Favorite Dessert! YOU BBQ PEOPLE ARE WICKED SMART! Experts agree! Mary Ann Covey, a psychologist with “Thriveworks” in College Station, Texas, is a specialist in coping skills and stress. She says, “Making a special family recipe while enlisting a loved one to help and work together, can create a more meaningful experience and add a sense of connectivity to each of your lives. The tradition of passing down family recipes for meals, baked goods, and desserts allows for an intergenerational experience that connects families to their history and to each other.” Science shows that “cooking and baking can be mentally healthy hobbies and coping mechanisms. A 2021 study in ‘Frontiers in Psychology’ found that cooking can mitigate psychological distress: it provides an opportunity to work with others to achieve a common goal and increases feelings of accomplishment and confidence,” Covey adds.
Author Celest Headlee’s book; “Do Nothing: How to Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving,” emphasizes her credence that at the end of the year, our motivation to work grinds to a halt. “Welcome to Twixmas, AKA Dead week: that stretch between Christmas and New Year’s Eve when we get the urge to take off and tune out—and our outstanding projects, deadlines, and other work responsibilities become Next Year’s Problems!” Headlee is an advocate for anything that “encourages people to prioritize their personal well-being over productivity,” stating that “I would be OK with the entire world just being on vacation with OOO—Out Of Office—notices during Twixmas!” Peggy Loo, founding director of the Manhattan Therapy Collective as well as a psychologist whose specialties include “Perfectionism and Burnout,” agrees, and “sees the end-of-the-year WIND-DOWN as a positive.” “I appreciate the collective slowing-down that happens around the holidays. It can be hard to (personally) slow down if everyone around you is still going a mile a minute! If you see that everyone else pauses, you can really sink into the experience of slowing down in a different way.” Loo continues, “it’s important to have off-time not only to prevent burnout, but it also helps enrich our lives and sense of identity or worth beyond ‘what we do.’” Both Headlee and Loo acknowledge that “being able to say ‘I’m not going to work this week,’ is a privilege. However, even if you must work your regular schedule, you can still carve out time for yourself to relax, rest, and recharge,” adding that the importance of “entering into the new year refreshed, invigorated, and energized CANNOT be overstated!”
“Something as simple as expressing your gratitude to someone else or just saying ‘Thank You,’ can increase your connections to family and friends, boost your mood, reduce stress, and can even positively affect your immune system!” states Amelia Kelley, therapist and co-host of “The Sensitivity Doctor Podcast.” “Gratitude is a powerful way to bring yourself into the moment,” Kelly says, also noting that “gratitude increases resilience, can alleviate depression and anxiety symptoms, and reduces negative thoughts and behaviors.” Mary Ann Covey expands upon that theory: “There is something comforting about Family Traditions,” living and working in Texas allows Covey the pleasure of uniting with friends and family around succulent Texas BBQ.
During Twixmas, utilizing “Down Time” in the course of “Romjul,” to gather loved ones together for scrumptious BBQ is indeed, a “definite mood enhancer!” Covey explains, “Traditions foster connectedness, build stronger family bonds, and provide comfort. Creating new family traditions as well as honoring and holding onto old ones can be a great way to spend time together as a family and add something a little extra fun to the holiday season. Research has shown that children, tweens, adolescents AND adults all benefit from practicing traditions or rituals. They don’t have to be complicated: they can be something as simple as preparing a BBQ together, sharing a meal together, and then all hopping into the car to go look at Christmas displays. Remember,” Covey advises, “as kids get older and the family unit evolves, so can your traditions! Less stress and MORE JOY! Whatever you choose to do together during Twixmas, make it something memorable that everyone will enjoy!”
www.co.uk asks, “Confused about what day it is? Us too! …But there’s a name for this weird bit in the middle of the holidays between Christmas and New Year…It’s known as Twixmas—a made-up word which combines sounds of 2 words and blends their meanings. The word ‘TWIXMAS’ is a portmanteau—it blends 2 words and their meanings to make a new word.”
www.theatlantic.com writer Helena Fitzgerald says, “All Hail Dead Week, the Best Week of the Year! The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a time when nothing counts and when nothing is quite real.” Fitzgerald states, “Christmas is over and we have arrived at the most wonderful time of the year—nominally still the holidays, but also the opposite of a holiday, a blank space stretching between Christmas and New Year’s Eve when nothing makes sense and time loses its meaning…We’re waiting for the new year, with all its resolutions and hopes for starting over, but we’re not quite done with the old one. In between the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one is this weird little stretch of unmarked time.”
“Once the stress of Christmas Day is over, Twixmas comes along to help recharge our batteries before we celebrate the start of another year. It’s the perfect time to stretch out the festive spirit a little longer and take a well-deserved break before January arrives. Some households gather with extended family, while others simply hunker down and relax. Twixmas is a great time to cook up something comforting!” declareswww.housebeautiful.com
Ahhh, Twixmas. The Dead Week. Romjul. A feeling and mindset of comfort, wellness, and contentment. A time to reset, reenergize and renew. An intentional time to refresh and revamp oneself. A reason to snuggle, to gather, and to share quiet repose and tender respite. Whatever moniker you choose, we hope that all of our BBQ Family, www.ribbqnews.com Patrons, and www.wiseguysbbq.com Podcast Subscribers relish the week betwixt Christmas Day and New Year’s Day in a cozy, tranquil, languid lull for rest and relaxation, restorative contemplation, perhaps some low-key reflection, and most decidedly devouring delicious BBQ with your loved ones. HAPPY HEAVENLY HIATUS!
