The quietest week of the year

To me, the week between Christmas and New Year's Day seems to exist in an entirely different sort of time from the rest of the year.  I can tell the difference when I wake up on Boxing Day:  The frenzy of holiday preparations and celebrations has come to a crashing finale, and the new year  doesn't start for a week yet.  Because so many people are on vacation, not much gets done at work.  The kids are out of school.  The weather is, at best, cold enough to encourage one to stay indoors.  There's a sense of expectation hanging over the days - it feels too soon to start anything new, but too late to finish anything old.  Everything's in kind of a quiet holding pattern.  It's a welcome change from the hyperactivity of the Thanksgiving to Christmas period, but I'm glad it doesn't last any longer than it does.  By the time New Year's Day rolls around I've recovered from the finale of the previous year and I'm itching to start the new one.