And we know what to expect - a season full of joy and stress, relaxation and exhaustion. The quantities of each dictated by our age, stage, resources and mindset. And the hand of Fate. Therefore, the season is as tough for some as it is fun for others.
Dr Rob Wilde, psychologist and researcher at Coventry University in Britain, details a simple list of the problematic impact of Christmas stress.
Top of the list is the extra responsibility and tasks added to already oversubscribed lives, a radical shift in daily patterns, the surfeit of rich food and alcohol, the pressures of spending, over- excited children and intense contact with family. Christmas, says Dr Wilde, can also be a lonely and nostalgic time when all the things kept covered up all year can break through - amplified by the sight of empty chairs, missing faces, financial struggles, changes in relationships and countries left behind.
Taken hostage by elves
"Merry Stressmass" is the catch cry amongst many of the women in a survey by the American Psychological Association, who found holiday stress disproportionately experienced by women. No surprises there. Busy shattering glass ceilings in the workplace all year, women still do the "second shift" of housework and childcare outside work hours. First described in the 1980s by sociologist Arlie Hochschild - it's still alive and well in 21st century. Christmas and holidays can send that unequal division of labour into overdrive.
A survey in the UK in 2013 found that women spent a staggering 270 hours - or 11 full days - preparing for Christmas. The survey of 2,500 people showed 87 per cent of women thought their partners were clueless about what needed to be done. Half of the women in the survey said they would not trust partners with important tasks. Half of the men surveyed said their partners exaggerated stresses and strains.
One woman in the survey said she was having nightmares about being in her kitchen on Christmas Eve surrounded by elves. And with her oven broken.
Leslie Bella, sociologist and author of The Christmas imperative: leisure, family and women's work says research shows women in particular feel compelled to reproduce Christmas as the happy family holiday. Creating rituals and following traditions - that special turkey stuffing or shortbread, magical ornaments, old family rituals, stocking fillers and home made puddings - more relevant for the family of 50 years ago - can now be an impossible burden for the non-traditional family of the 21st century.
Waiting rooms full of stressed out and angry couples after the holidays, are all too common. Men describe the stress of feeling blamed by exhausted women who are feeling unacknowledged.
Extinguish the inner Chicken-Licken
Versions of the children's story character Chicken-Licken go back 25 centuries. An acorn lands on this bird character's head and he assumed the sky was falling in. He spread his fear-filled belief - with disastrous consequences for all he came into contact with.
We can simply put too much pressure on ourselves as we struggle to live out some manufactured ideal of how we should experience the holiday. So breathe, keep it all in perspective and extinguish your inner Chicken-Licken - the sky won't fall in if your Christmas and holiday plans don't run smoothly.
Best of all, keep everything as uncomplicated as you can, and cut yourself some slack - visualise the simple things the holiday season promises - that book, a tomato salad, and a chance to chat.
And beware one hidden stress: the mandate that you look unstressed as you waft through the season. It's okay to be busy, just keep it as balanced and realistic as you can, say the experts.
My top tips
• Acknowledge your feelings. Seek help if they overwhelm you.
• Don't use what psychologists call "awfulising self talk": words like 'impossible', 'disaster', and 'hopeless'
• Pop some bubble wrap
• Plan ahead with shopping, (shop outside normal hours whenever you can or hop online)
• Cooking (keep it simple, really simple, and delegate)
• Set a budget: studies show children - even big children - recall atmosphere more than gifts
• Don't expect too much of yourself - or anyone else
• Keep some parking meter coins in the glove box
