Between Christmas and New Year: Calm Things to Do With the Quiet Days

The days between Christmas and New Year are the quietest of the year: the big meals are behind you, the diary is empty and nobody is sure what day it is. The nicest way to spend them is something slow and screen-free you can pick up and put down at will — a cross stitch kit, a color by numbers set or a photo mosaic of your own photo on the kitchen table. An hour, an evening or the whole week: it all counts, and at the end you have something real to show for it.

In short

• This week has no agenda — so choose something you can stop halfway through without spoiling it.
• Do it together. A color by numbers set is two canvases sharing one set of markers, so two people work at the same table.
• Screen-free beats another film. Your hands are busy, your head goes quiet, and the afternoon does not vanish.
• Small suits this week. A mini design or a 30×40 cm canvas fits the days you actually have.
• Think a week ahead. To have a kit in the house on 26 December, order before Christmas or ask for one as a gift.

Why these particular days feel so strange

There is no good name for this week in English. The Germans call it zwischen den Jahren — between the years — and that is exactly how it feels. Christmas is done, New Year has not started, shops keep odd hours and you eat leftovers at half past three. Most of us fill it with screens, then feel faintly disappointed on 1 January that the whole thing slid past. The alternative is not a productivity plan. It is simply having something on the table your hands can do while the rest of you rests.

Which technique suits the quiet days?

We make three kinds of kit, and they feel quite different to sit down with. None needs a skill you do not already have.

If you cannot choose, the deciding question is usually the table: cross stitch travels, the other two want to stay put. Our color by numbers starter guide and photo mosaic beginners guide both walk you through a first session.

What can you realistically finish in one week?

Be honest with yourself, because an unfinished project on 2 January is a small, silly disappointment you can avoid. A smaller canvas at the gentlest color level is a few relaxed evenings; a large canvas at the finest level is a winter project, not a week one. We give realistic ranges per size in how long does color by numbers take. A good plan: pick one thing you could finish, and one you are happy to leave half-done.

The table is the whole trick

The best thing about these days is that people are in the house who are not usually in the house. Put something in the middle of the table and the room changes: people drift over, do a few sections, drift off again. Nobody has to make conversation, and somehow everyone talks more.

A Winter Wonderland color by numbers set is made for this: two canvases sharing one set of markers, one each, same table. Cosy Cottages and Cosy Café work the same way. Because these use markers rather than paint, there is no water and nothing to rinse — you can clear it away in a minute when someone wants to eat.

If you would rather be on the sofa

Cross stitch is the quieter, more portable option: a hoop, a needle and a pattern. The seasonal designs suit the moment — Winter Village in the Snow and Snowy Mountains in Winter Light both look like the weather outside, and both are €29.95 — and the New Year cross stitch collection holds 6 designs for the turn of the year itself. For something shorter, the mini cross stitch bundles each hold four small designs, and one design is genuinely an evening's work.

A picture of the year you have just had

There is something fitting about spending the last week of the year on a picture of it. Each technique has a version that starts with your own photograph: the Custom Photo cross stitch kit from €29.95, Custom Photo – Color by Numbers from €49.95, and Custom Photo – Mosaic Art from €49.95. A slower, more interesting way to look back at a year than scrolling the camera roll.

You do not have a kit in the house — now what?

This is the honest catch, so let us be straight. If you are reading this on 27 December with nothing to make, ordering will not rescue this afternoon. The exact delivery time is shown at checkout, and around the holidays everything moves more slowly. Shipping is free worldwide with no minimum order, but free is not instant. So: order before Christmas so the box is there when the quiet days arrive — see our Christmas gift guide — or order now for the weeks after New Year, when the evenings are darkest anyway.

And when the week is over

At some point the tree comes down and normal life resumes. If these days gave you a taste for making something by hand, that is worth carrying forward. We have written separately about starting a creative hobby in January and about the winter designs that keep earning their place through February. For now: clear a corner of the table, put the kettle on, and make something.

Frequently asked questions

What is there to actually do between Christmas and New Year?

The days have no agenda, which is their gift and their problem. What works best is slow, screen-free and stoppable: a craft on the table, a long walk, a proper meal with no occasion. A cross stitch kit, a color by numbers set or a photo mosaic all suit the week — ten minutes or three hours both feel right.

Can I finish a whole project in that week?

A smaller canvas at the gentlest color level, or one design from a mini cross stitch bundle, is realistically a few relaxed evenings. A large canvas at the finest level is a winter project, not a one-week project. Pick one thing you could finish and one you are happy to leave half-done.

Is color by numbers something two people can do together?

Yes, and this is why it suits these days so well. A set is two canvases sharing one color palette, so two people work side by side from one set of markers. With markers rather than paint there is no water and nothing to rinse — you can clear the table in a minute.

I want to start on 26 December. Will a kit arrive in time?

Probably not if you order on the 26th, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. The exact delivery time is shown at checkout, and holiday deliveries are slower than usual. Order before Christmas so the box is already in the house, or order for January. Shipping is free worldwide with no minimum order.

Which technique is easiest if I have never done any of this before?

Color by numbers asks the least of you: the canvas is pre-printed, every number matches one marker, and you need no drawing or painting skill. Cross stitch is the most portable and the calmest in an armchair. A photo mosaic is the most absorbing and personal, but wants a stretch of table it can stay on.

Is this the same as starting a new year's resolution?

No, and that is rather the point. This week is about the days themselves, not about becoming a different person on 1 January. There is no target, no streak and nothing to keep up. If you want to carry it into the new year, we have a separate guide to starting in January.