Editorial Policy

What we are trying to do

Every page should answer the question in its title, quickly, and then be genuinely useful to somebody who wants more. A countdown page should show the number first. A gift page should give ideas you could act on this week. A traditions page should describe what actually happens rather than gesture at atmosphere.

Length follows usefulness. We would rather publish a shorter page that answers the question than pad a page to hit a word count for search engines. Repetition, restated introductions and long detours away from the topic are treated as defects, not as depth.

Sourcing factual, historical and cultural content

Where a page states a fact about history, religion, national customs, official services or dates, the preferred sources are, in order:

1. Primary and official sources: national postal services, tourism boards, museums, churches, government and municipal pages, official calendars.
2. Established reference works and reputable long standing publishers of cultural and historical material.
3. Mainstream journalism from outlets with editorial accountability, used for context rather than for core claims.

Social posts, content farms, AI generated summaries and unattributed listicles are not acceptable sources for a factual claim. If a claim cannot be supported by something better than that, the correct action is to leave it out rather than to hedge it.

Sources are never invented. A reference is only listed if it exists and actually supports the claim next to it. Country pages should display their sources where sources exist, and should not display a sources block that is decorative.

Things we do not publish

• Invented sources, quotes, studies or statistics.
• Invented named authors, reviewers, experts or credentials.
• Prices, discounts, stock levels or availability claims for products. We are not a retailer and cannot verify any of them. Budget bands are described as bands, not as prices.
• Claims of hands on testing, laboratory comparison or long term use that did not happen.
• Fabricated urgency, fake deadlines or invented shipping cut off dates.

Dates and freshness

Published and updated dates appear only where they are genuine. Articles in the articles section carry real dates because those dates are tracked. Evergreen hub pages, tools and guides do not display a maintained date, and they do not carry structured data claiming one, because a date we cannot honestly maintain is worse than no date at all.

Countdown values are calculated live from the current moment and the target date in your device timezone. They are not stored, cached editorial text or annual copy paste.

Corrections

If you find a factual error, please report it through the contact page with the page address and the specific claim. A report that is correct leads to a change in the content itself. Meaningful factual corrections are made in the page rather than argued away, and clarity problems are treated as worth fixing even when nothing is strictly wrong.

Commercial independence

The site may be supported by advertising, sponsorships and, where relevant, affiliate or partner arrangements. Three rules follow from that:

• When commercial placements or affiliate relationships are used, they should be clearly labelled so you can tell them apart from editorial content.
• No advertiser, sponsor or partner should decide what a guide recommends, how a topic is covered or what stays on the page.
• Paid placement should never be described as a recommendation, an award, a ranking position or an editorial pick.

Advertising options are described on the advertising page.

How gift guides are put together

Gift guides on this site are category and fit recommendations. They work from the situation you are actually in: who the person is, what they already own, how much time is left, and what kind of gift tends to land well in that relationship. The output is a type of gift and the reasoning behind it, so you can choose a specific product from any retailer you like.

That means gift pages do not pretend to be product reviews. Nothing is described as tested, ranked or best in class on the basis of hands on use unless that use genuinely happened and is described honestly. Where a guide points at a budget band, a recipient type or a last minute constraint, that is editorial judgement about usefulness, not a purchase guarantee. Start points for this approach are the gift ideas hub and the gift finder.

AI assisted production

Software tools, including AI tools, may be used for drafting, structuring, editing, code and general production work. Two limits apply. AI output is not a source, so it cannot be used to establish that something is true. And factual content is handled separately from generated copy: a claim about history, a country custom, an official service or a date has to stand on a real reference, not on fluent phrasing.

We do not claim a formal multi stage review process, an expert review board or fact checking staff, because those do not exist here. What we claim is the standard above and the willingness to correct the site when it falls short.

Country and traditions pages

Country pages describe a limited set of fields: when the main celebration happens, common traditions, typical food, gift customs, the local gift bringer and one notable detail. Country pages are intended to use reliable cultural or official references and to show the references actually used. They deliberately avoid generalising across a whole region, and they avoid travel, shipping or legal advice we are not in a position to give. The country by country hub is Christmas in your country, with a comparison view at Christmas around the world.

Questions

If any part of this policy is unclear, or you think a page breaks it, write to us through the contact page. Background on the site itself is on the about page.