A Cryptic Christmas

2. Songs that feel cheerful until you hear them for the hundredth time.
9. A bit of wax and wick that promises ambience but risks alarm when forgotten at dinner.
10. Non-flying animals that prove flight is possible if you believe hard enough.
15. Something you desperately want until you unwrap it.
17. TREE A dead plant we decorate and then judge for not being perfect.
18. Shiny proof that more is not always better.
20. A plant that turns awkward eye contact into an even more awkward situation.

1. A table decoration whose main purpose is disappointment.
3. The main event on the table that never signed up for the job but still gets roasted for it.
4. A biscuit that pretends to be a person and loses its limbs at Christmas – as well as every other part of its body.
5. A school play where someone always forgets their line and someone else cries.
6. A countdown that makes waiting feel productive.
7. YEAR The moment when “next year” finally becomes “now”.
8. PAPER Decorative evidence that you are terrible at hiding surprises.
11. A vehicle that ignores traffic laws, gravity, and fuel prices.
12. A sock with a job.
13. An architectural feature that suddenly becomes an entrance in late December.
14. The only person who can break into houses but still has a positive public image.
16. A worker who never complains about overtime and is paid entirely, it seems, in festive vibes.
19. Weather that looks magical in photos but desperately annoying in real life.