There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries.

Cameron’s epigram draws a sharp distinction between the singular, unrepeatable event Christians commemorate—the Nativity itself—and the yearly holiday that follows. By calling later Christmases “anniversaries,” he reframes modern celebration as memorial rather than repetition: what people experience each December is not the original miracle but a ritualized return to it. The line can also be read as a critique of sentimental or commercialized observance, implying that the only “real” Christmas was the historical birth of Christ, while subsequent festivities are human reconstructions that can drift from their spiritual center. Its force lies in compressing theology and cultural commentary into a single paradox.