It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's also one of the most demanding for Premier League footballers.
While their counterparts in France, Germany, Italy and Spain enjoy a winter break, every team in England's top flight will play four games between 21 December and 3 January.
Of the 20 Premier League sides, Tottenham and Everton have the most demanding schedule - playing their four matches within the space of 10 days.
In contrast, the league's top two sides - Liverpool and Manchester City - have more recovery time, with the former playing their fixtures over 14 days, and the latter 13. The Reds have almost 100 hours more recovery time than Spurs.
But what of the rest of the division? Which clubs have been given a potential advantage? And which can feel hard done by at the games handed to them at a potentially crucial stage of the season?
Level playing field?
Time between start of first fixture and last fixture
The top five
Last season, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola warned that the demands of the schedule over the festive period would "kill players" after City faced Watford 48 hours after a New Year's Eve game.
Premier League teams will have one more day's rest this year than they had in 2017, but all will still have to pack a quartet of matches into a relatively tight timeframe.
Tottenham are the only side in the current top five who have just two days' rest between each of their games, after their trips to Everton and Cardiff were moved to 23 December and New Year's Day respectively for TV.
Spurs will also be coming into this run of games in a month that has already seen them play six games in 18 days courtesy of their involvement in the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup.
Manchester City have an extra day of recovery time between each of their four fixtures, while Liverpool have two gaps of four days. Arsenal and Chelsea have it slightly tougher, but their schedule is still not as demanding as that facing Pochettino's side.
Spurs also have some tricky opponents, with games against top-half sides Everton and Wolves, a match with a Bournemouth team who have only just dropped to 11th and a tough trip to Cardiff, who have won their past three at home.
Unbeaten league-leaders Liverpool arguably have the hardest task on paper with regard to calibre of opponent, with the Reds facing three sides in the top half of the Premier League, including a festive-period-concluding, top-of-the-table tie at second-placed Manchester City.
The bottom seven
With a five-point gap between Brighton in 13th and Newcastle a place below them, the division's bottom seven look the most likely list from which to draw three relegation candidates.
The festive schedule for these sides is more uniform than those for their top-five counterparts, but still with small variations that could help some sides.
Southampton may feel a four-day rest between their first two games - against Huddersfield and West Ham - will assist them, but this is balanced out by just two days each to recover for tough matches against Manchester City and Chelsea.
The festive period could be an opportunity for Huddersfield to make ground on their rivals - they face the other three teams in the bottom four - while Crystal Palace appear to have it toughest in terms of opponents, facing three of the top seven.
Things, though, rarely pan out as expected. Fantasy football managers might want to bear this in mind when the inevitable squad rotation occurs, scuppering all best laid plans for a bumper festive score.
Driving away for Christmas
It is not just the players putting in the yards this Christmas and new year. Premier League fans will be trekking up and down the country to watch their teams play.
Newcastle supporters will travel the furthest, covering 440 miles to visit Liverpool and Watford in their two away fixtures.
At the other end of the scale are Chelsea, whose supporters have a comfortable 30 miles to navigate for their matches at Watford and Crystal Palace.
How far do Premier League fans travel this Christmas?
Distance for fans driving to away games during festive period
Part of Fixtures (CET)
Friday, 21 December
21:00 Wolves vs Liverpool
Saturday, 22 December
13:30 Arsenal vs Burnley
16:00 Chelsea vs Leicester
16:00 Man City vs Crystal Palace
18:30 Cardiff vs Man Utd
Sunday, 23 December
17:00 Everton vs Tottenham
Wednesday, 26 December
16:00 Leicester vs Man City
16:00 Liverpool vs Newcastle
16:00 Man Utd vs Huddersfield
18:15 Brighton vs Arsenal
20:30 Watford vs Chelsea
Saturday, 29 December
16:00 Tottenham vs Wolves
18:30 Liverpool vs Arsenal
Sunday, 30 December
13:00 Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
15:15 Southampton vs Man City
17:30 Man Utd vs Bournemouth
Tuesday, 1 January
16:00 Arsenal vs Fulham
18:30 Cardiff vs Tottenham
Wednesday, 2 January
20:45 Chelsea vs Southampton
21:00 Newcastle vs Man Utd
Thursday, 3 January
21:00 Man City vs Liverpool
slimma
191
. Since Klopp joined Liverpool , 1.Luis Van Gaal won a trophy at United and left 2.Enrique joined Barcelona, won treble and left 3.Zidane joined madrid, won ucl thrice and left 4.Ranieri joined Leceister, won epl and left and have return to epl again 5.Conte joined Chelsea, won epl and fa cup, left 6.Pep won Bundesliga, left, won epl and efl cup 7.Wenger won FA cup and left 8.Mourinho came, won 3 trophies and left. And people still think klopp is doing a great job 😂😂😂😂 Hugs are enough 😂😂😂
RealMd13
82
Saturday day December 29th 👑 Liverpool vs Arsenal Arsenal fans: 😂👇🏾😂😂😂😂
Lestonzy
73
I think it Newcastle because they coming up against Liverpool away and Manchester United at home that is two of the best 6 teams in the epl but I think they should be able to hold their own against these teams
RealMd13
70
Liverpool is the most dangrous team in The EPL so far this season they are lookin to be going for both EPL title and the Champions League we all know they will beat FC Bayern Munich because Bayern Munich are not ready to deal with speed of sadio mane and K7NG 👑 Mohamed Salah so i hope the team would stay injury free and be ready to beat FC Bayern Munich and Klopp as Adopt very well to the EPL and done a wonderful job with his Liverpool team he didnt buy superstars but he created superstars and made them mentally strong 💪🏾 and thats what a coach supposed to be doing and Klopp is doing just that so I will give him the credits he deserves #YNWA🔴
tropicalda
54
Seems like chelsea probably have the easiest schedule. City are the only club that get at least three days between every fixture, culminating in a home match against Liverpool that very well could put them back on top of the table, but Pep had some bad times against them last season, so who knows. You have to feel for arsenal and spurs
TonyV25
17
. Since Klopp joined Liverpool , 1.Luis Van Gaal won a trophy at United and left 2.Enrique joined Barcelona, won treble and left 3.Zidane joined madrid, won ucl thrice and left 4.Ranieri joined Leceister, won epl and left and have return to epl again 5.Conte joined Chelsea, won epl and fa cup, left 6.Pep won Bundesliga, left, won epl and efl cup 7.Wenger won FA cup and left 8.Mourinho came, won 3 trophies and left. And people still think klopp is doing a great job 😂😂😂😂 Hugs are enough 😂😂😂
Liverpool fans logic : Playing UCL UEL and EFL cup finals and losing all 3 are better than winning a Trophy 🤣