Christmas week is one of those rare moments when most businesses slow down at the same time. Offices are quiet. Email replies are slower. Phones go unanswered. You finally get a chance to step away and be present with family.
Your website, however, does not know it is Christmas.
It keeps running. It keeps taking traffic. It keeps answering questions for people who are very much still online. And when something goes wrong during the holidays, it almost always happens when no one is watching.
This post is not meant to create stress. It is meant to help you relax, knowing your website is doing what it should while you are off the clock.
Your website is still working while you are not
Even if your business is closed for a few days, your website is still the front door.
People are:
- Googling services while they have time off
- Comparing companies late at night after family events
- Looking up hours, locations, or contact details
- Clicking links from old emails, ads, or social posts
Holiday traffic often looks different than normal traffic, but it does not disappear. In many cases, it becomes more casual, more curious, and more likely to turn into leads after the holidays.
That only works if your website is healthy.
Why website issues love holidays
Over the years, we have noticed a pattern. Website issues show up at the worst possible times. Late nights. Weekends. Holidays.
There are a few reasons for this.
Updates continue to run even when people are off. WordPress core updates, plugin updates, server patches, and automated tasks do not stop for Christmas. If something is going to conflict, it tends to happen when no one is actively checking.
Traffic patterns change. A sudden spike from a promotion, an email blast, or seasonal interest can expose performance issues that stay hidden the rest of the year.
Support is slower everywhere. Hosting companies, third-party services, and even internal teams often operate with reduced staff during the holidays.
The result is a small issue that quietly turns into a big one simply because no one noticed it right away.
The most common Christmas week website problems
Most holiday website issues are not dramatic. They are small, frustrating, and easy to miss.
Here are the ones we see most often.
Contact forms stop working
Everything looks fine on the front end, but form submissions never arrive. Sometimes it is a plugin update. Sometimes it is an email delivery issue. Sometimes it is a spam filter doing too much.
Slow load times
Your site technically loads, but it feels sluggish. Images take longer. Pages hesitate. Visitors bounce before they ever see your content.
Broken pages or layout issues
A theme or plugin update causes spacing problems, missing buttons, or text that suddenly looks off. It still works, but it no longer feels trustworthy.
Security warnings
An expired SSL certificate or security flag can throw a browser warning that scares people away instantly.
Downtime
This is the obvious one. The site is simply unavailable. Even short outages matter when they happen during peak browsing times.
None of these problems announce themselves loudly. They just quietly cost you opportunities.
The one thing you should do before you log off
Before you fully check out for Christmas, there is one simple thing every business owner should do.
Pretend you are a customer.
Open your website on your phone. Not your laptop. Not your office computer. Your phone.
Then check the basics:
- Does the homepage load quickly?
- Can you easily tell what the business does?
- Is the contact information correct?
- Do forms actually submit and confirm?
- Does the site feel professional and stable?
This takes five minutes. It catches a surprising number of issues.
If something feels off now, it will feel worse to a stranger.
Let people know you are closed without hurting trust
It is okay to be closed for Christmas. People expect it. What they do not expect is confusion.
If your business is closed for a few days, your website should say so clearly and calmly.
Good holiday messaging:
- Sets expectations without sounding defensive
- Keeps contact options visible
- Feels human and intentional
A small banner or line of text explaining holiday hours is often enough. The goal is clarity, not interruption.
Avoid hiding your contact forms or making people feel like they should not reach out. Many visitors are happy to wait if they know what to expect.
Monitoring matters more than perfection
A website does not need to be perfect to perform well over the holidays. It needs to be watched.
Monitoring means:
- Knowing if the site goes down
- Knowing if forms fail
- Knowing if performance suddenly drops
Without monitoring, you only find out something is wrong when a customer tells you or when you come back from the holidays and see the damage after the fact.
This is where peace of mind comes from. Not from constant checking, but from knowing someone or something will alert you if there is a real problem.
If you want help covering the basics so your site stays stable during busy weeks, our Website Maintenance service is built for exactly this kind of situation.
Why “I will deal with it after Christmas” often costs more
Putting off website issues until after the holidays feels reasonable. You are busy. Your team is off. You will handle it later.
The problem is that later often means:
- Missed leads
- Lost trust
- Confused visitors
- Extra cleanup work
Fixing an issue quickly is almost always easier than fixing it after days of neglect.
Even one missed inquiry can outweigh the cost of basic monitoring and maintenance.
Your website is part of your reputation
People judge businesses quietly.
They do not usually email to say a site felt slow. They do not call to report a broken button. They simply leave.
During Christmas week, when people have time to browse and think, impressions matter even more. A stable, clear, trustworthy website plants a seed that often turns into action in January.
A broken or confusing one does the opposite.
A simple holiday website checklist
If you want a quick checklist before stepping away, use this.
- Website loads quickly on mobile
- Contact forms submit and confirm
- Phone number and email are correct
- Holiday hours are clear if applicable
- SSL and security warnings are clean
- Backups are running
- Monitoring is active
You do not need to overthink it. You just need confidence.
What we watch during the holidays
When clients ask what matters most over Christmas, our answer is simple.
We watch availability, performance, and communication paths.
If the site is up, fast, and able to receive inquiries, it is doing its job. Everything else can wait a few days.
That mindset keeps things calm and focused instead of reactive.
Enjoy Christmas without wondering
The best websites are boring in the best way. They quietly do their job while you live your life.
Christmas is not the time to worry about server logs, error messages, or broken layouts. It is the time to trust that things are handled.
If you are stepping away this week, take a moment to make sure your website is ready to do the same work it does every other day.
Then close the laptop.
Your website should keep working so you do not have to.
Take time off without worrying about your website
Your website should not have to take Christmas off just because you are. If you want peace of mind while you step away, and a site that stays secure, fast, and ready to work for you, we can help.
With Website Maintenance, we keep your site updated, backed up, and monitored so small issues do not turn into bigger problems while you are away.
And if performance and reliability matter to you, our Website Hosting is built to keep your site fast, stable, and protected year-round.
Want a website that keeps doing its job while you are off the clock? Reach out and we will help you get it set up the right way.
