The holiday season is one of the best, coziest times of the year. There is the joy of gathering with family and friends and the hustle and bustle of feasts, presents, music, and seasonal activities. The holiday season can also be kind of hectic. These quotes celebrate the best parts of this time of the year while maintaining a sense of humor about its downsides.
God bless us, every one!
— Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, 1843
This iconic quote comes from the character of Tiny Tim from Charles Dickens’ classic seasonal novella A Christmas Carol. Tiny Tim is suffering from an unnamed illness that could be fatal if not treated. When Scrooge has a change of heart, he agrees to support Tiny Tim and his family, presumably saving his life. Tiny Tim says this blessing over his Christmas dinner, and it’s later repeated at the end of the story as a sign of Scrooge’s change of heart. Tiny Tim’s joy and gratitude in the face of so much adversity is a heartwarming symbol of the holiday season.
Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.
—Hamilton Wright Mabie, “My Study Fire, First Series,” 1900
Essayist Hamilton Wright Mabie uses the expression “conspiracy of love” to describe how people interact during the holiday season. While in modern parlance the word conspiracy often has a negative connotation, Mabie here turns this term on its head to use it positively, in the sense “any concurrence in action.” In other words, during the holiday season, people work together to spread love and joy.
I find that it’s the simple things that remind you of family around the holidays.
—Amy Adams, Parade, December 19, 2010
In an interview with Parade, actor Amy Adams talks about her family holiday traditions, including making a strange whipped concoction named “Banana Ice.” As Adams reminds us in this quote, it’s these kinds of “simple things” that make the holiday season so special.
Remember that the important thing is not what you give, or how you wrap it. The important thing, during this very special time of year, is that you save the receipt.
—Dave Barry, Miami Herald, December 17, 2012
Writer Dave Barry is well known for his humorous columns during the holiday season. In this quote, he offers tongue-in-cheek advice about the importance of keeping the receipt so that a gift can be returned or exchanged if it isn’t quite what someone wanted.
I go to the gym religiously. About twice a year, around the holidays.
—Demetri Martin, to James Corden, 2018
The holiday season is a time of great food, from holiday roasts to baked treats. Like so many people, comedian Demetri Martin acknowledges that all the food he eats during the holidays drives him to the gym… which he avoids during the rest of the year. The term religiously here is a play on words. Literally, it refers to regular religious practice, like some people engage in during the holiday season, but religiously can also mean “habitually or without fail.”
It is not the things you have that make you happy. It is love and kindness and helping each other and just plain being good.
—Laura Ingalls Wilder
During the holiday season, it can be easy to get caught up in getting the best gifts or having the most perfect apple pie. This quote from American author Laura Ingalls Wilder reminds us that material things aren’t what’s important during the holiday season—what’s most important are the relationships with the people around us.
When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It’s also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be.
—Molly Wizenberg, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, 2009
Food always brings people together, and never more so than during the holiday season. Food is an important way people express their unique culture and identity. In this quote, chef and writer Molly Wizenberg celebrates how a good meal tells a story and creates community.
A gift in season is a double favor to the needy.
—commonly attributed to Publilius Syrus
Publilius Syrus is the pen name of an ancient Roman writer from the time of Julius Caesar who was well known for his moral maxims. A maxim is “an expression of a general truth or principle.” While the holiday season looked very different in ancient Rome, the principle of gift-giving expressed in this quote remains timeless.
Be it ever so heinous, there’s no place like home.
—The Grinch, How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie, 2000
Being home for the holidays is not always easy, even if it has its good qualities. This quote from The Grinch acknowledges this fact, describing home as “ever so heinous.” Heinous is an adjective meaning “hateful; odious; abominable; totally reprehensible.”
My people, for whatever reason, have always disdained mandated celebration—weddings, graduations, religious rituals—but parties, with one spotlit, beautifully costumed host, were another matter. As other people might keep butter, in my family every refrigerator contained a bottle of champagne, a necessity always on hand.
—Susanna Sonnenberg, Harper’s Bazaar, December 2012
Not every holiday celebration looks the same. As this quote from Susanna Sonnenberg acknowledges, some families don’t bother with “religious rituals” or elaborate feasts. Sometimes all that is required to celebrate together is “a bottle of champagne.”
A good holiday is one spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours.
—J.B. Priestley, quoted by Dale Koppel, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1988
Being amongst friends and family for the holidays requires a certain amount of patience. It can be challenging to organize everyone to be on time for a celebration. Playwright J.B. Priestley wryly describes this dynamic in his quote.
I spend months picking out the perfect present for everyone. You know the only thing I get in return? Coupons, free back rubs.
—Kiki, A Bad Mom’s Christmas, 2017
Kiki, played by Kristen Bell in the movie A Bad Mom’s Christmas, expresses a feeling that some have during the holiday season. She works hard to make sure everyone has gifts but is left feeling unappreciated. While she has a sense of humor about this, it’s a good reminder to make an effort to make sure everyone feels valued during the holiday season.
You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.
—Frederick Buechner, quoted by Braden Harvey, Good Good Good, August 2022
At the end of the holiday season, it can be sad to say goodbye to family and friends and get back to regular life. This quote from Presbyterian minister and writer Frederick Buechner reminds us that we take a little bit of them when we go. As he puts it, the love and community of our friends and family become part of who we are.
