A 23-year tradition
Forty Days of Christmas. Begin November 16. End December 26. Twenty-three years running and counting. November 16 is the day you can start celebrating Christmas in all its forms: the movies, the music, wishing people glad tidings, the cooking, all of it. The rules are simple, the joy is enormous, and the punctuality of the ending is non-negotiable.
Friends & family
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 rules
November 16
Tree up. Lights up. Movies start. Mariah arrives, on schedule. The house gets festive overnight.
November 16 → December 25
Every Christmas movie, every Christmas song, every glass of nog. No moderation. The season exists to be enjoyed.
December 26
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
Cutting down our own tree, singing at open mics, playing a little live music. The season is for doing, not just decorating.
The soundtrack
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.
Start here The 40DoX Official PlaylistA 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
Add to the museum
Post a photo, a clip, or a memory from your own Forty Days of Christmas. The best ones go up on the wall.
From the museum guests