Common wisdom would have us believe that there are 12 Days of Christmas (starting with Partridges and Pear Trees and rattling through to 12 drumming drummers) - but that does clash with the retail model where Christmas starts somewhere around 10th October and the Christmas party season that kicks in at the start of December. (Disclosure: my office Christmas lunch was on the 6th December this time round).
And even if you do try stick to the idea that there are only 12 Days of Christmas, who knows when they start - some folks insist that 25th December is the first day, others that they start on the 26th - meaning that the 12th day is either the 5th or 6th of January
This year it got even more confusing (in my house at least) by the introduction by the Wildlife Trusts of the 7 Days of Wild Christmas. At least the Wildlife Trusts were clear when the 7 Days of Wild Christmas started and finished. Day 1 was 25th December, Day 7 was 31st December.
However, I can now officially reveal that there were (this winter, at least) 16 Days of Christmas (mostly wild) starting with sunrise on the morning after the winter solstice and finishing on 6th January.
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| Day 1: 22nd December - Solstice Sunrise at Sydlings Copse |
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| Day 2: 23rd December - C S Lewis Nature Reserve |
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| Day 3: 24th December - Headington Hill Park |
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| Day 4: 25th December - Rowan Berries, Headington |
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| Day 5: 26th December - Sydlings Copse |
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| Day 6: 27th December - Feeding the Birds, Headington |
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| Day 7: 28th December - Warburg Nature Reserve |
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| Day 8: 29th December - Mesopotamia |
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| Day 9: 30th December - Shotover Drive |
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| Day 10: 31st December - Magdalen Quarry Nature Reserve |
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| Day 11: 1st January - Pyrford Woods, Surrey |
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| Day 12: 2nd January - Mesopotamia |
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| Day 13: 3rd January - Snow Berries, Oxford Brookes University |
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| Day 14: 4th January - South Park |
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| Day 15: 5th January - C S Lewis Nature Reserve |
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| Day 16: 6th January - Milham Ford Nature Park |
And roll on 30DaysWild in June.
