What makes a Christmas ideal can change from person to person, and so a formula for an ideal Christmas has to have flexibility built in, to account for what matters most for each one of us.
The components of your Christmas formula
Every variable (in upper case) that appears in the formula comes accompanied by a coefficient (in lower case), with the coefficient expressing how much that variable matters in your idea of a perfect Christmas.
Togetherness
T = Togetherness: be it with family, friends, or community, in person or sometimes online or in some other such way. And it’s not just on Christmas day, the whole season counts towards this! (from 0 to 100)
t = how important togetherness is for your ideal Christmas (from 0 to 10)
Ambience
A = Ambience: Christmas tree and decorations, lights, Christmas music, etc (from 0 to 100)
a = how important ambience is for your ideal Christmas (from 0 to 10)
Giving and receiving
G = Giving and receiving: presents and holiday cards are the obvious ones, but messages, emails, and phone calls also count (from 0 to 100)
g = how important giving and receiving is for your ideal Christmas (from 0 to 10)
Festive food
F = Festive food: both the joy of preparing it and the joy of eating it, and includes festive drinks and treats. (from 0 to 100)
f = how important festive food is for your ideal Christmas (from 0 to 10)
Rituals
R = Rituals: going to midnight mass or participating in traditions, such as watching the lighting of the Christmas tree in your town, having an advent calendar, or settling down for a Christmas movie marathon. (from 0 to 100)
r = how important rituals are for your ideal Christmas (from 0 to 10)
Magic
M = Magic: this is a bonus category, which accounts for things like snow on Christmas morning, a grandchild’s first Christmas, and other unexpected delights. (from 0 to 10)
Calculating your perfect Christmas
Your personal Christmas fulfilment score can then be calculated as:
\[C = \frac{t^2 T + a^2 A + g^2 G + f^2 F + r^2 R}{t^2 + a^2 + g^2 + f^2 + r^2} + M\]A couple of notes about the formula
The first part of the formula is a weighted average of the variables T, A, G, F, R. The coefficients t, a, g, f, and r appear squared to give extra weight to the things you value most, so pour your energy into making those great!
The Christmas fulfilment score should be interpreted as a number from 0 to 100. But in fact, because of the Magic factor, the value of C could as high as 110. (In that case, good for you!) This is to account for the fact that sometimes, even when not everything goes as intended, there is something magical that makes this Christmas a bit more wonderful and memorable.
Image credits: featured image: Katrina Wesencraft, External Engagement and Communications Officer, School of Maths. Christmas gifts under tree: Tom Merton/Getty Images. Family Christmas dinner: skynesher/Getty Images. Christmas food: leonori/Getty Images
