It’s the seasonal equivalent of the eye of a storm, a brief chance to sit back, relax, please oneself and take a breather from the 24-hour lifestyle that can make the rest of the year seem such a chore.

Enjoy. In a couple of days new year parties will lead you back to compulsory fun; and after that the dull days of January are pockmarked with nothing more joyful than terrifying credit card bills, and monastic resolutions.

Free of the obligation to ensure that Christmas is celebrated with all the traditional trimmings, and relieved that familial rivalries did not result in a hospital admission, hundreds of thousands enjoyed a sporty Boxing Day. A full set of fixtures filled football stadiums from Birmingham to Wigan in the Premier League and from Plymouth to Grimsby in the lower divisions. More than 25,000 racegoers saw a hot favourite romp home in the big race at Kempton Park, and a different variety of equestrian meeting kept others in the hunt for entertainment. Now the law prevents the redcoats giving chase to the fox, it’s more about jumping ditches than giving offence. Shopkeepers’ desires to stave off financial straits puts bargains galore in the sales for those for whom retailing is sport, or therapy. And a welter of newly released films will swell idle hours at the fagend of the year with easy diversion. Look forward to Harry Connick Jr in PS I Love You, a romantic comedy. Or if flights of fancy aren’t your thing, how about taking in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, on the silver screen?

Yes, it’s a hiatus. But it’s also a gap, and an opportunity; a rare treat, not a void.