Christmastime

American  

[kris-muhs-tahym] / ˈkrɪs məsˌtaɪm /

noun

1. the Christmas season.

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Usage

What does Christmastime mean? Christmastime is the Christmas season.Christmas is a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. Most Christians celebrate the holiday on December 25, but it is celebrated on January 7 in the Orthodox Church due to the use of a different calendar. Christmas is also widely observed in secular (nonreligious) ways. Popular activities include the decoration of a Christmas tree and the exchange of gifts.Most often, the word Christmas refers to Christmas Day—the day on which the holiday is observed, most commonly December 25. But Christmas can be used to mean the same thing as Christmas season or Christmastime.Christmastime is generally thought to start around the beginning of December, though some people in the U.S. begin to decorate or engage in Christmas festivities immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday or even before. Christmastime coincides with the “holiday season,” which in the U.S. is popularly understood to include Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.In religious terms, Christmastime is sometimes considered to extend from Christmas Eve to the feast of the Epiphany or Twelfth Day on January 6. This period is sometimes called Christmastide, though this word can also be used in a more general way to refer to the period from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day. Christmastime is used more generally.By those who celebrate Christmas, Christmastime is often seen as a magical time that’s associated with a sense of hope and wonder and a feeling of festiveness.Example: Christmastime is the season of perpetual hope!

Etymology

Origin of Christmastime

First recorded in 1830–40; Christmas + time

Example Sentences

The first three episodes premiere Thursday; the concluding three are due at Christmastime.

From Los Angeles Times

But that may be exactly what some viewers want, and need, at Christmastime, or whatever one calls the week before Thanksgiving.

From The Wall Street Journal

“It gets really bad at Christmastime,” one long-suffering woman working at the pastry counter told me, noting that Yuletide season is fast upon us.

From The Wall Street Journal

For 80-plus years, the customers of Greenberg Smoked Turkey turned to the Tyler, Texas, outfit at Christmastime.

From The Wall Street Journal

Fake snow to make it actually look like Christmastime, decorations in every single frame and an overall production value that made some of their movies look almost decent enough to be released in theaters.

From Salon