Meaning of Christmas comes but once a year | Babel Free

Definitions

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

Examples

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

“Chriſtmaſſe commeth but once a yeere.”

“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; […]”

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

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

CEFR level