Crappy Holiday Pain Is Finite
Merry Christmas, CN and a reminder that crappy holiday pain is finite.
If you’re alone, sharing kids for the first time, going through the meat grinder of divorce, or just had your first D-Day with a FW, please know it will not always suck.
It. Won’t. Always. Suck.
Life reconstitutes itself. We reinvent. We have to. Just keep showing up. And eventually you get to the place where all the grief is just a dull throb, a memory, a navigation skill set you acquired, some shabby baggage you still lug around with you, but will fit easily into an overhead compartment. It’s not anchored to you dragging you down any more.
I’ve had crappy holidays. My chump street cred is well-established here, but for any newbies, I had a D-Day right after Thanksgiving. A second one after Christmas (he was working on Christmas Eve and disappeared. Good times.) I received a tye-dyed license plate cover as a gift. Honestly, you cannot make this shit up. And a plastic necklace I returned for $15 and bought a pair of socks.
I also bred with a FW and even though I always had Christmas (I spent a fortune on those custody battles) I had to share some portion of a holiday with the FW. I’ve given advice all over this blog on how to survive this stuff — make new traditions, white knuckle it through, volunteer… my point today is:
It gets better.
Even if your material circumstances are reduced. Few people get through infidelity financially unscathed. The important thing is showing up for the people in your life who matter. That pays dividends in life. If you’re doing everything to give your kids a good Christmas while your heart is breaking, your kids are going to remember that good Christmas. They’re going to know you were there for them. You’re modeling mightiness. Resiliency. Some day they may face a personal tragedy and you’ll be their lodestar. They’ll know survival is possible, because you survived and made it to Tuesday. (The day the pain stops.)
Enough of the heavy stuff, Tracy. It’s Christmas!
Anyway, I’m here on the sidelines cheering you. I read the social media. I see the pictures of your trees and your cute kids. Your new chair. Your experimental tradition in the making.
I’m so proud of you.
You’re navigating this shit show so well. I’m many years out from it, but I haven’t forgotten it. But I wanted to tell you how Mr. CL and I are celebrating. We had my friend Yoma over to visit yesterday and today. I’ve written about her — she’s in my book too, in the acknowledgments. Yoma financed my leaving the FW. Saved my ass at the worse time of my life. Recognized I was in a domestic abuse situation and she never faltered in her support. Oh, and she never liked the FW from the start. (The only one who didn’t.) She never sugar coated it. And she’s modeled what it is to reinvent one life after the next. (She was chumped herself eons ago. Her academic husband ran off with his secretary, in a perfect cliche.)
Yoma will be 90 this year. Here’s Monty greeting her.
Monty has big feelings which he can only express by smothering you.
I don’t have anything profound to add here. I’m just very happy I get to spend Christmas with the people I love. Who are not FWs. I did a lot of lopsided investment in FWs in my life, I know you did too. It’s good to be out of that. But CN, the liberation is so worth it.
I leave you with some other of my other favorite holiday things. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Tracy and to all who celebrate it! And I hope the Jewish chumps had a wonderful Chanukah! And for anyone I missed, may this holiday time be peaceful and happy. This time of year is definitely difficult for all chumps in the beginning stages… and sometimes longer as we work through the grief and navigate the physical, emotional and financial stress of it all. But, for chumps like me that survived it (DDay for me was 10 years ago… and the drama and damage from FW continued until son turned 18… he’s about to turn 20 now), trust that there is an “other side.” And that “other side” is forever improved without a FW continually hurting you. No one needs someone in their life who enjoys inflicting pain and making you unhappy. Everything improves without a FW. Freedom and peace are precious and worth fighting for. I promise. To a happy healthy peaceful 2026!
Merry Christmas Tracy and Happy Holidays to CN. Very thankful for your support and messages of strength!
Merry Christmas! Tracy! This is my first Christmas in well over 30 years of waking up alone in my bed on Christmas morning. Soon-to-be ex and I decided to divorce January 2025 and will be filing in 2026 and I’ve been through the roller coaster meat grinder of grief most of this year. But a couple of months ago I started to feel a lot better and I feel really good waking up this morning alone in my bed in my perfectly clean home that I moved into in March. I’m starting to round the bend and and imagine the great feature I’m going to have. So I want to share the message that resiliency is a part of us that things do get better and as a friend of mine said, and I think it’s from a song, that out of chaos comes clarity and my clarity is returning. Your grief won’t last forever. Anger won’t last forever. You’ll start to feel good. So for those who are having a difficult holiday, I wish you all the best in developing new traditions and getting through this meat grinder. I’ve decided to make 2026 and the next 10 years of my life, one of my best decades ever. Come along with me. I hope you will. Love to to the chumps out there and happy holidays! Hugs!
I LOVE those decorations! Truly.
Just me and the dog this morning. Youngest texted that she made it to the airport, and the oldest texted that he’ll call later today. I have an invitation to a friend’s house for Christmas dinner.
Truly, it’s all very, very good. I dreamed about my FW coming to the door on Christmas Day. I woke up and laughed. He would never, ever do that, and I wouldn’t let him in. Not a chance. But the brain is a funny thing…
Back to my second cup of coffee.
Merry Christmas Tracy and CN!
I am alone for the first time ever but as I told my sister (who was and continues to be my rock in this hell of infidelity discovery and divorce), it’s better than four years ago when I sucked it up and spent 2 days with my cheater and his family – for my young adults’ sakes.
We had just been separated and I wasn’t out of the panic attack woods yet, but I went. It’s quite the distance away so overnight accommodations were necessary. THIS is what was offered to me by his family: a mattress on the floor of the garage, or pop-up camper with space heater in the dusty barn. All in the far northern, wintery part of the US!
My dear sister paid for a hotel room in the nearby small town instead. That experience was by far lonelier than this year when I am straight-up alone but doing new traditions.
It’s the term i now use …ON MY OWN rather than ALL ALONE…there is a shift coming. As the days go by, you will begin to feel more love from real sources rather than the saccharine you were used to. It will take time to detox and reset but it’s coming. How beautiful a sisters care.Hold on,Tuesday is coming!!
LOVE the phrase “on my own.” Thank you for that!
I love the shift to ON MY OWN vs alone. Thanks 2xchump!
Say it out loud!! I’m going to bed All ALONE, I’m Waking up ALL ALONE, now sub in the words I’m going to bed ONMYOWN,I’m waking up ON.MY.OWN. Pretend youre going to bed and waking up now with Dignity, which you never ever lost and were born with, per Nelson Mandela..and relearning the gift of YOU! Like falling asleep with an artificial leg and waking up with your own flesh and blood one. You would still have to learn how to walk ON YOUR OWN again. Go do it and maybe fly!!!
It sound like your FW’s apple didn’t fall far from the tree. As a used-to-be-alone-always-not-only-at-Xmas Chump, it’s not all bad, and things will get better. Please consider Chump Nation as your guests in spirit today, and have a merry and happy!
Very true, the apple didn’t fall far. Thank you! You are my “guests in spirit!” Merry Christmas, Best Thing
God bless that beatiful sister of yours and I wish you both a joyous Christmas and a onderful 2026. And as for your ex and his hideous family; may they have the year they deserve.
Amen, PrincipledLife, and thank you! This community is so validating. 😊
Merry Christmas, Tracy, Mr CL, Yoma, Monty and CN.
Merry Christmas Tracy! Thank you so much for everything you do. The world is a better place because of you.
I feel so grateful when I look at the clock and see that another hour has passed. I made it through another hour—yay for me! However, I hate not being someone’s number one. Just a week ago, I received a text saying that he is filing for divorce and wants to be free. Who sends a message like that a week before Christmas? I’m 70, for crying out loud, and he is 76. We just got back from a wonderful trip, and I thought we were doing well. I can’t believe I was so naïve. I spent most of the week in bed feeding myself Xanax. Got out of bed today, and I am a size smaller. But who really cares? So I am a size 10, 70 years old, and not a size 12. Who cares? I have no desire to look good. I just want to sleep. Sorry, but my family hates him and they don’t want to hear me whine. Spending Christmas with Google, Alexa and Chatgpt. I didn’t think my life was going to turn out like this. It’s hard to even want to live.
Merry Christmas Tracy, with best wishes for peace, joy, kindness love,and prosperity in your life as we lurch forward through this second year of Yeats’ Second,Coming dystopia.
Your wicked humor, cutting commentary, gentle and when necessary direct and forceful advice, warm encouragement and deep concern have helped so.many chumps through the hardest most painful experience in their life, including this octogenarian male chump.
After I found your website I began to see clearly how I could improve my life by disconnecting from the fwit who had cheated, lied and abused me for the best part of a half century. Thank you, thank you…
When my eyes were opened as to what I had endured for the sake of a marriage, I went into shock. 30 years of slowly increasing the heat on my boiling pot of water. Unbelievable..that shock takes time to clear…
Same
Merry Christmas to you CL and all those dear to you! Ditto for Chump Nation, and a Happy Whichever Holiday is Yours!
TL;DR
FW dumped me during the holidays and they’ve never been the same. Over time, I’ve modified how I celebrate them and will continue to do so.
My D-Day was just before Thanksgiving. FW knew Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday and I was really looking forward to it; our triplets were all coming home from their various out-of-state locations, I had a fabulous menu planned and the boys’ bedrooms were prepped. And FW decided that was the perfect time to go nuclear. He packed and left while I was at church and I came home to a dark house and his side of the closet being empty. I called the boys to let them know that their father had apparently left me, and they all admitted he’d already secretly told them he was leaving and moving an hour away. Chumps are always the last to know. FW later emailed to say he’d like to share Thanksgiving with us. Still in shock, I stupidly took that as a sign of hope and said Yes, but told him he couldn’t stay at the house. Thanksgiving Day was a shit show… 5 adults awkwardly sitting around the dining room table in complete silence. FW never spoke or even look up once from his plate; afterwards, he cleared the table and left. Why the fuck did he even bother to come?
The entire wretched experience repeated itself a month later during Christmas. That’s when I said, “Never again“. The holidays were not just ruined, they were soiled. All the joy had evaporated, like the air inside a leaky balloon.
Post-divorce, I’ve spent most Thanksgivings alone because my boys and their spouses are far away at the in-laws. I order Chinese, curl up with my dog to watch some movies, and enjoy a very peaceful 4-day weekend.
Ditto for Christmas; typically, the boys’ respective visits to my town are on the 27th or 28th (Christmas is at the in-laws) and then they’re on their way home before New Year’s. I did the math and decided that for me to struggle, alone, schlepping cartons of Christmas lights, candles, ornaments and the like to/from storage was simply not worth it. So I compromised… I put a wreath on my door. I placed fresh evergreen boughs on my mantle. I hung Christmas stockings over the fireplace. I put Christmas towels in the bathroom. Year after year, that was the most effort I was willing to invest. It wasn’t a Bah Humbug vibe, it was indifference. I was prepared to repeat it again this season, but decided none of the holiday trappings were bringing me any joy (Thanks, Marie Kondo). So this year, I’ve gone hardcore minimalistic and done absolutely no decorating; I still have gifts for my grandchildren, I still serve delicious meals, and I still have great conversations with my children so I don’t have an ounce of guilt or regret. Maybe someday I’ll be inspired to reverse the trend but that’s my current version of “reinvention”.
I’m appalled at how your FW left but also your boys knowing and not telling you.
I hope you enjoy peace now at every holiday!
Dear MyRedSandals… I was sorry to read that your boys don’t alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas between you and the in-laws… 😔. Your ex was just horrible to do what he did. Plain horrible!
But bravo you for reinventing your take on it. Simplifying is good for the soul. And Marie Kondo is fab and inspiring!
Hugs to you and the dog x
I’m totally with you. I’m low effort at the holidays now except for the cooking, baking and gifts. I put up one string of lights, a crazy little fake Christmas tree that sings carols, turn on the electric fireplace and that’s it for seasonal decor.
Happy holidays My Red Sandals, and enjoy cuddling with those lovely doggies.
Thanks for sharing! I am enjoying a similarly minimalist christmas: now in an apartment, i donated my lights, tree stand, and large ornaments and even silverware I dont use. I feel lighter and am enjoying a quiet Christmas with one of my children. Reading your post and the others comforts and inspires me.
My bet is almost all of us chumps re-did, altered, adjusted and did what we HAD to do to survive those initial holiday year’s. Kids grow too and it would not have been the same anyway. I was just minus one person who did not care about my heart, my health, my finances. Did not care about the beautiful children and grandchildren. Did I want to live with an actor who abused my body and my soul. .or can I be on my own and create my own holidays. Start over. It’s a strange feeling but to know what I had was a lie, is worse.
Merry Christmas all- whatever holiday you are celebrating today, may you have delicious food, good company- even if it’s just you- and the peace of knowing you will not be lied to or be the recipient of anyone’s bad mood and terrible behaviour today.
Facebook kindly treated me to a recall of all my christmases with Dickhead McCluggage as a special Christmas gift.
This year I looked closer at those posts and concluded that they were indeed boring, crap and just plain awful days- unless I put extra effort in to make sure they appeared to be good.
I made Christmas happen for us- not him.
As hard as it is, I’m glad I was eventually smacked by the reality stick.
Yes, we made it all happen, didnt we?! I was the christmas ornament displayed to make him look like an upstanding man instead of the lying cheating soul vampire he is. I am no longer serving as his ornament thank god! Better days are here and ahead.
Yes!
I hope you had a wonderful day.
Christmas is done here (I’m in France) and I had lovely day with my kids, my grandkids and my DIL’s parents and a single friend. It lasted about seven hours and everyone has gone home. My kids told me they haven’t spoken to FW (in the States) for “a while” and nobody called him on Christmas day. I know he hates it as he “misses France and misses his kids” but I’m sure he’s having a wonderful time back in the States with Schmoopie who hates everyone and where no-one is welcome! Merry Christmas chumps, it really, really does get better!
Had to look up what a Springerle is and a belsnicker was! Even though my #1 cheaters mom was right off the boat from Germany, I never heard about these 2 things. My German XMIL just died this year and I miss her so much. She was part of my childhood and baked for weeks before Christmas. Plus her German 7 layer cake. Thank you for sharing all this Tracy !! I am 2 years post 2nd cheater divorce and even though I miss much of the goodness of the past, nothing compares to the peace I have now. No more hostage exchanges, no more surprise weddings with kids abducted to Las Vegas, no more kids coming back all wired and tired. It is the beauty of things getting better after all the years of major drama which I adjusted too. Im so happy on my own and pray I have many years to enjoy the peace I’ve earned. Thank you CN and it absolutely gets better!!
Tracy, as a cardiac nurse, lots of heart attacks on Christmas, In the ER choking, car accidents, diabetic comas. Everything looks bright and everything can be awful. Cheaters choose the leaks I think, so they can get out of the house!
Thanks to Tracy and all of Chump Nation for sharing your experiences and advising how to navigate the chump journey.
We can all give ourselves the gift of honesty and stop spackling. And we don’t have to expect ourselves to be oases of calm. Holidays can be triggering, especially since many cheaters are particularly cheap and stingy with gifts, and whether or not they had an AP during holidays, their behavior with you/family may have been abysmally self-centered.
Teen and I now have our own traditions, and while we’re nostalgic for some bygone holiday events involving other family and friends who have moved away, we don’t miss abusive cheater at all.
Happy Holidays and happy New Year to everyone here.
We finally get to see the pinecone elves! They’re adorable!
I just wanted to say Happy Holidays to all. Some extra love goes out to any chumps who are alone at this time of the year. As CL says, it won’t suck forever. If you’re a new chump, know that once the freak is gone you’ll start to heal. My first Christmas after being chumped was depressing, but after I left him it got better.
I will say that I’m a bit peeved that my ex FW, Attila the Nerd, has not so much as texted his daughter so far today. It should be the first thing on his mind on Christmas day and it should be a phone call, not an afterthought text for later on like every other year. I have a feeling that this year he may forgo it entirely. He’s got a girlfriend now, so why would he need a daughter to help him pretend he’s normal? That’s FW thinking for ya.
The good news is that DD doesn’t care. 😄 I used to get enraged by this kind of behaviour, but now I just get a bit annoyed, then shrug it off. So I can confidently tell you that it does get better.
Love the holiday spirit at Tracy’s house. Merry Christmas and Happy Everything All. xoxoxo
DDay was October 2017, followed by the worst Thanksgiving and Christmas ever.
Thankfully, the trash took itself out the following February.
Grief is inevitable but suffering is not.
Christmas, which I adored, has inevitably been harshed and marked by loss but I make an effort every year to reclaim my love for it. It does get better every year. There is NO downside to his absence, but there is pain from the deception and betrayal that waxes and wanes.
This year, I added A VINTAGE PINECONE ELF to my 56 year old Christmas ornament collection in honor of the woman who saved our lives when we discovered the husband and father in our family was a fraud. That woman is Tracy Schorn.
Thank you, Tracy. You have been the biggest gift and blessing, the lighthouse and the lifeboat in the darkest hour of our lives, the exact perfect medicine for healing the damage caused by the person we should have been able to trust most in the world.
Little Hammer and I send our love and best wishes to you for a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
♥️
😭 Oh VH… you got me crying! So beautifully said. And such a beautiful gesture to get your own Vintage Pinecone Elf! (These VPEs are new to me;). That is truly lovely.
“A lighthouse and a lifeboat in the darkest hour… for healing the damage caused by the person we should have been able to [and did] trust most in the world”.
Thanks, CL, it does get better. When I first began to learn of his decades of betrayals and lies with more betrayal objects than I could count, I don’t think I could have imagined how good my life would turn out to be, once he was gone, even though I am in my 70s. NY Day 2023 was when he told me about the 5 or 6 (not sure) betrayal objects in the DC area, the week or 2 later, I learned about the ones in the American SW, then Florida, etc, etc. To change the narrative, on Jan 1st, I will be running in the Resolution Run about half an hour away from home. Over the past few years, I have made it a point to travel to locations where he did a lot of cheating and betraying over the decades, and run in a race (5k or 10k, 5 mile or 8 mile, or whatever in that ballpark is available) in that location. I live and train at altitude,so it makes it even better for me, since most of the places he cheated were not at altitude. I typically feel and run like superwoman at sea level!! Nothing like running past where a worn out old hooker’s crib is docked and laughing my head off. So yes– I start my year on a powerful, strong note! Life is better on the other side!
I’m not a runner but have done so, accidentally at first because I still live in the same place, but scientifically it is in fact healing to overwrite the FW tainted associations with places / things with new positive memories, as I posted in another comment.
Wow go you! That is mighty indeed!
Thanks so much Tracy, and all of CN. You are all lifesavers.
It’s the first Christmas I’ve not been with my 12yo and 8yo children but I’ve been spoiled by my sister and her husband. She’s the only family I have and I’m so grateful to have her. They greeted me yesterday by dancing to crazy Christmas music turned up with matching disco lights flashing!
In the last three months I’ve moved into a little rental and in early-Feb I have my first divorce court hearing. I have cancelled mediation and “sacked” my solicitor (I’m in the UK).
Unsurprisingly I’m dealing with a FW who thinks he is above proving full and frank financial disclosures. So I’m going it alone and self-representing. It’s scary but I can totally do it. Onwards, chumps! Blessings of the season to you all. xxx
Yes you can!
So many of us have been where you are- good job refusing mediation.
I sad no as well as it just would have been him lying and a complete waste of money.
My solicitor said to me when it was finally over that she didn’t believe I’d be able to pull it off- it’s a good job I knew what I was dealing with and kept going then, wasn’t it!?
I’m glad you’ve decided to ditch your solicitor if they weren’t doing the job for you.
Go for it, Brizzler- we’re here cheering you on xx
BW, thank you SO much for your supportive and reassuring reply.
It was a bold step going it alone. I paid a fortune to so-called legal professionals while I continued to get screwed over by a charismatic FW who was just playing the system and issuing conditions and timescales as to when he would issue “additional” financial disclosure I asked for.
Reality was, he knew he should have revealed them from the outset and I’m having to chase it, but getting practically nowhere. FW will do ANYTHING to protect the small print of his double life/lives. I’m convinced it is all hidden in one credit card account under his company name that remains outstanding. I’ll literally have a petty when I receive that!
Plus in the last couple of weeks I discovered a line item on one of the bank statements he DID supply and not redact “sensitive commercial information” from, a penchant for buying trans lingerie, of the “gaff” variety, so men can tuck away their meat and two veg and achieve a more feminine “contour” down below. You couldn’t make this sh*t up… I am now wondering if I was a beard all along, and maybe his AP (one of many) of 15 years and counting is one too…
Anyway, a court and judge can now take over from me. It will elongate the divorce process but principles are at stake here. I will do all in my power to not allow FW to wriggle out of anything.
Mediation appeared to go well, but I was naive, FW charmed the mediator and failed to supply what was asked after the meeting. I realise now that mediation was the ideal setting for FW to continue his abusive reign of destruction. But I saw what was going on some weeks after. It was a learning process for sure. It is so unfair us chumps aren’t better supported and we have to work all this stuff out for ourselves.
My solicitor cost £8k and all she achieved was a partial Form E financial disclosures form from my FW. My sister kindly funded that but is not a bottomless pit. We’d have been better off going on an amazing holiday with that money.
So all in all I have no other choice but to go to court. I feel more in control and best placed to represent me and my two boys, authentically and honestly.
I’ve no idea how it will go and the admin side of things is pretty tough, but if anyone can do this, I can. I owe it to myself and I feel now is the time for real justice to be pursued and for my resilience to shine through.
I’m not scared of a judge or a barrister cross-examining me; if fact I’m pretty excited by the thought!
So, onwards. 2026 will be a war zone, but I’m doing it with all you chumps in my back pocket, and for which I’m immensely grateful and proud.
*have a party
Clarity – beautiful, pure white, soothing, edifying, life affirming, invigorating, clarity.
That is what every Chump here has fought so hard to obtain.
It’s in a state of clarity that every single one of us can live with love, peace, genuine connections, friendships, passions, interests and purpose.
How bloody wonderful is that?
Dare I say that after the painful slog of reaching ‘meh’ (and it is painful) we get this beautiful gift?
We get to do the beauty of life! We get to come back to true selves.
Merry Xmas dear Chumps and CL, thank you for all that you do 🙏💕🎄
Hi Tracy, I’m alone this Christmas because everyone I love had died. Except for my adorable Chihuahua! So I’m not really alone. Thank goodness for dogs!
So, I made a pan of lasagna for Christmas dinner using my mother’s recipe. This isn’t a tradition in my family (we’re not Italian), but I’m making my own tradition. Also, I made a pan of brownies for dessert, again, using my mother’s recipe.
Anyway, as I remind myself, I’m actually doing pretty good compared to many people in the world. I have a roof over my head, and plenty to eat, and I’m in good health. And I have my dog. Things could be much, much worse.
Anyway, thanks for all you do!
Merry Christmas Daughterofachump 💕 Lasagne, brownie… good on you! Blessings to you and your chihuahua 🎄🐾
Thank you for sharing some of your holiday magic with us, fearless leader!
I do want to affirm that it DOES get better. I just wrapped up my third Christmas without that idiot I gave my life to. I think it was the first one that felt kind of normal since she left and probably the happiest it has been in years (granted I still worked but hey.) I cooked a bunch of things she would have pulled a knife on me for making at the end, watched old Christmas commercials, and generally gave myself permission to do a lot of things that she would have made judgy, side of her neck remarks about.
There is simple joy in not needing to walk on eggshells, not worrying about how something will be received or interpreted, and being able to put the time and effort into what YOU want and not burning precious time and energy on trying to win a race you didn’t know you were in.
It’s hard not to focus on what is missing this time of year. Remember that you are also losing the bad with the good. I’m better off. You are, too!
Hope all are having a great holiday.
I have relocated to TX. I lost my sweet husband of 31 years in September. I could not stay in our home as I am aging and I needed to be near my son and his family. two weeks after my husband died, I had to have my sweet dog put down. He was and old boy, and he had been having some health issues before my husband got down, but it was still a shock.
I have so many wonderful memories of my life with my husband. He was the one that mattered, he was so good to me and it was an honor and privilege to care for him in the last year. He had a good quality of life, almost up to the end. I am grateful for that.
I’m so sorry for both of your losses. At least you’re close to your son now.
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality” – Seneca
I saw this quote, and immediately thought of CN and how it applied to us chumps before taking the leap to leave the abuser. I know I thought the world would end if I divorced FW narcopath. Little did I know that my life would be better
Happy Christmas!
Holidays are fun now. No one to bring down the mood. FW died a few years ago, so I’m fortunate to always have my kid for holidays. And I got to keep the in laws, lol. FW wasn’t on speaking terms with his family, but now that he’s not there to get angry with me for contacting them, my son has gained grandparents, an aunt, two uncles, and two cousins (whom he adores). FW’s family likes me and now they come to my house every Christmas Eve.