Emerita Professor Marsha Meskimmon, Former Director of the IAS, delivers our Inaugural IAS Festive Lecture, fully titled "From the Star of Bethlehem to a Cool Yule: Christmas Really Does Come But Once a Year" Having rashly agreed to deliver the first IAS Festive Lecture in the heady months of the summer, I found myself at the start of November wondering where the time had gone. More to the point, I found myself wondering what Christmas has to do with time... In this talk, I will share some of my ruminations on the origins and traditional celebrations associated with this annual festival to ask what it might teach us about time and tide, light and darkness, joy and renewal. Oh, and for those who know me, why having hundreds of lights on a tree in your house is an eminently sensible thing to do, but once a year. For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias