Christmas comes but once a year

proverb

Used to emphasize the annual distinctiveness of Christmas, especially in contexts where either the special joys or tribulations of the holiday are described.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proverb
  1. Used to emphasize the annual distinctiveness of Christmas, especially in contexts where either the special joys or tribulations of the holiday are described.

    Chriſtmaſſe commeth but once a yeere.

    1623, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], “Certaine Prouerbes, Poemes or Poesies, Epigrammes, Rhythmes, and Epitaphs of the English Nation in Former Times, and Some of This Present Age”, in Remaines, Concerning Britaine: […], 3rd edition, London: […] Nicholas Okes, for Simon Waterson, […], →OCLC, page 267
    4 more examples

    At Christmas play and make good cheere, / For Christmas comes but once a yeere.

    1878, Thomas Tusser, “The Fermers Dailie Diet”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 28

    I urged to the good lady that this was Christmas-eve; that Christmas comes but once a year,—which is unhappily too true, for when it begins to stay with us the whole year round we shall make this earth a very different place; […]

    1854, Charles Dickens, “The Seven Poor Travellers. Chapter I. In the Old City of Rochester.”, in Christmas Stories […] (The Works of Charles Dickens; XV), de luxe edition, London: Chapman and Hall, published 1881, →OCLC, page 5

    "Christmas comes but once a year, / And then Mother wishes it wasn't here."

    1901, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “A Christmas Mistake”, in Short Stories: 1896—1901

    Christmas comes but once a year, which is just as well—shopping during the festive season can be no fun at all.

    2006 December 9, Lila Das Gupta, “Christmas gifts”, in The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC

Origin

Apparently coined by the English poet Thomas Tusser (c. 1524 – 1580): see the 1580 quotation.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Christmas comes but once a year. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Christmas%20comes%20but%20once%20a%20year

MLA

“Christmas comes but once a year.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Christmas%20comes%20but%20once%20a%20year. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Christmas comes but once a year,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Christmas%20comes%20but%20once%20a%20year.

Source: Christmas comes but once a year on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.