December 23rd is the best day of the year.

As a Christmas fanatic, I love all things connected to the holiday, and the time in December leading up to the 25th is my absolute favorite. I love watching people shop for loved ones like busy little bees, the colorful decorations, and the general sense of goodwill that occurs over the holidays. Is it possible my love is fueled by consumerism? Maybe, but given how I devour the “Little House on the Prairie” Christmas stories, and all they have to give each other is a pair of mittens and an apron (sorry, it was a sexist time), I think my intense love goes a little deeper than just “boy it sure is fun to buy things and get things.”

However, despite my adoration for all things Christmas, the truth is that December 24th and December 25th can be stressful, and even unhappy, days for some people. I’ve had years where my depression has coincided perfectly with Christmas, and the entire day was a dysfunctional nightmare I wanted to rolly-polly hide away from.

But December 23rd… that’s a different day entirely.

December 23rd is pretty famous amongst comedy nerds as “Festivus,” or the secular holiday invented by Daniel O’Keefe and made popular by Seinfeld. I’ve watched a total of five minutes of Seinfeld, so I couldn’t tell you if Festivus is the way to go, but sure, if that sounds like fun, have at it. Get a Festivus pole, air some grievances, and do whatever it is you want to do to celebrate.

My love for December 23rd is a little sillier. The main reason I love it so much is that it is the day when you can do whatever you want, and it’s the right thing to do.

Sometimes in the days leading up to Christmas, it can feel like there are so many different events and so many possibilities for how you should spend your time to have the best combination of lived experiences and make the happiest memories. If you’re the kind of person who regularly visits Instagram-viral coffee shops and bars, the holiday season only magnifies that feeling. So if you want to take a break from pursuing popular holiday spots, that’s a completely acceptable use of time. But if you want to drive to a city of your choice to find a particular hot chocolate spot and wait 45 minutes in line to drink said chocolate while standing up because the cafe is so popular, that’s also okay.

You could spend today watching Christmas movies, or getting ready for your own Christmas Book Flood, or wrapping presents. You could throw a Christmas party for all of the dogs in your neighborhood, and that would be a wonderful use of the day.

December 23rd is usually when all of the holiday productions have kicked into gear (at least if you live near a city), and so it’s the perfect day to go to a play, ballet, symphony, musical, or movie. There’s no wrong answer.

If you’re reading this and you do not celebrate Christmas, or you do but aren’t as in to it as I am, you can also spend today doing ~nothing~. That’s fine. December 23rd isn’t an official holiday. You could certainly take the day off of work (which is what I do) and relax, or, if you’re the kind of person who thinks Ebenezer Scrooge had some good ideas pre-Marley & Ghosts, work to you heart’s content.

In the meantime, I’m going to wish you all a happy, whatever-you-want-it-to-be day.