The rules

Three dates. One season.

My friend Phil and I landed on this together. We tried 50 days once, which was too much, and 30 days, which was too little. Forty was our goldilocks zone for holiday cheer and celebration.

• November 16

  The decorations rise.

  Tree up. Lights up. Movies start. Mariah arrives, on schedule. The house gets festive overnight.

• November 16 → December 25

  Forty days of glee.

  Every Christmas movie, every Christmas song, every glass of nog. No moderation. The season exists to be enjoyed.

• December 26

  It all comes down. Abruptly.

  Every ornament boxed. Every light coiled. By bedtime, the house is back to itself. The new year begins clean, the day after Christmas. No drift, no slump, no half-lit January tree.

In the spirit

Getting festive.

Cutting down our own tree, singing at open mics, playing a little live music. The season is for doing, not just decorating.

Friends & family

Everyone in one room, before the season takes over.

I've always treated 40DoX as an excuse to get friends and family together for the holidays before the holidays take over everything else. So every year, right around November 16th, we throw the 40DoX kickoff party. Same people, same warm start to the season.

The archive

The parties, year by year.

The tradition goes way back. Here's a photo from a few of the kickoffs, each one opening into the full gallery.

2025 → 2024 → 2023 → 2022 → 2008 →

The soundtrack

Every year gets its own playlist.

Part of the tradition: every Forty Days gets a brand-new playlist that fills up across the season, a little time capsule of what the holidays sounded like that year. Here's the whole run. And if you just want the definitive one, there's an official playlist that's always in season.

A playlist for every year

From my co-inventor, Phil Giordano: Phil runs a playlist that adds a brand-new Christmas song every single day of the Forty Days. It makes the whole thing real fun. Follow along ♫