If you think back to your childhood, you probably remember that December seemed like the longest month and sometimes it seemed that Santa Claus would never come. But as an adult, the experience is different, leaving the impression that Christmas comes faster every year, writes The Conversation.

One minute you’re at a barbecue or on the beach in the summer on vacation, and then, almost in the blink of an eye, Christmas carols, salad de beef, and all the other seasonal traditions have arrived.

The good news is that if you can’t believe the winter holidays are already knocking on your door, you’re not alone. A recent survey of almost 1,000 adults in the UK found that 77% of respondents said that Christmas seems to come earlier every year.

One reason may be that as we age, we perceive time differently, which means that time seems to pass more quickly in general, not just during this period.

For a 7-year-old, the 12 months between Christmas are a huge chunk of the life she’s lived up to that point. For a person who has reached the age of 45, those same 12 months are a small part of life experience.

The role of memories and routines over time

In addition, the way we perceive the passage of time also changes because we rely on memory to estimate the duration of time. When we estimate how long something took, we base it on the number of memories we created during the period we’re thinking about.

Whether we’re trying to remember the length of a movie, a car ride, or a relationship, the number of memories etched into our brains will serve as an indicator of that length.

In other words, periods of time when we create fewer memories—whether because we haven’t had stimulating events, new activities, or strong emotions—are perceived by our brains as short.

Obviously, this is compounded by the fact that with age our memory weakens and we remember less about our everyday life. We are also less inclined to try new things than when we were younger.

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These factors together may contribute to the fact that less time has passed since last Christmas than expected. And because what we do greatly affects how we perceive time, changes in our daily routine distort the passage of time.

In other words, the predicted day “helps” time to pass evenly. Everyone was probably intuitively aware of this during the COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine measures introduced by the authorities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Today, we were living our normal lives, and then very suddenly, all our normal activities were turned upside down, and people all over the world reported that they felt an overwhelming sense that the time of the pandemic was not flowing normally.

While Christmas obviously doesn’t turn our lives upside down like a pandemic, its preparation disrupts our daily routines.

Christmas is perceived differently by adults and children

Another factor that can make us feel like Christmas has come too soon is the amount of energy we put into waiting for it.

For many children, Christmas is the most anticipated event of the year, and all this excitement means that they pay much more attention to the passage of time until Santa arrives. Unfortunately for them, this focus on passing days makes time difficult.

However, for most adults, Christmas isn’t all that exciting anymore, so they probably think less about the countdown.

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This effect is likely to be even more pronounced in 2022, after we finally return to normal post-pandemic life and many of us are busier than ever in our lives and have even less time to think about the advent of Christmas.

In addition, although they are less attentive to the passage of time, adults have more things to do before Christmas. For children, Christmas is almost magical, but for adults, the “mystery” of the holiday is replaced by the hassle of planning, shopping, wrapping presents and cooking.

That extra strain on our schedules that Christmas creates can also help time fly by. On the other hand, for children, the lack of control over what happens at Christmas can in turn increase what psychologists call “temporal uncertainty”:

Not knowing when or if something will actually happen can slow down time.

Christmas really does come faster in stores

In addition to all this, technological progress can affect our perception of time. Advances in technology allow us to do many tasks faster than before, this acceleration of the pace of life compared to, say, 20 years ago, in turn contributes to the feeling that Christmas will come too soon.

And last but not least, it may seem like Christmas is getting closer every year, because it is.

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In the past, stores in Western countries didn’t release the holiday season until the first day of Advent, the 4-week period before Christmas, which also marks the beginning of a new liturgical year in the Roman Catholic calendar.

But now, since the first half of October, it has become the norm to see Santa Claus chocolates on supermarket shelves. Of course, the situation in Romania does not look so “serious” yet, but we have already started to see how our retailers are gradually joining the trends in the West.

This same change in the store’s calendar for Christmas also no doubt contributes to our perception of it coming earlier each year.

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