The Christian calendar has two main events, Easter and Christmas. Each is preceded by a period of preparation, Lent for Easter and Advent for Christmas. Pretty much the rest of the year is "ordinary time." (There are a few minor things like Pentecost and such, but they don't get whole seasons.)
It seems very appropriate that the first religious period in the new year is ordinary time. It is a bit of a rest between the excitement of Christmas and the secular New Year and the arrival of spring and Easter, a quiet time that fits the January vibe of the Northern United States. Roz Chast, the brilliant New Yorker cartoonist, sums up January this way:
Ordinary time. A holding pattern, a period of quiet, a lull. Most of the year is spent in "ordinary time." We anticipate holidays with periods of preparation, but we don't have names for the aftermaths, for the times of recovery. We spent weeks building up to Christmas and Easter, but quickly find ourselves back in ordinary time.
A lot happens in ordinary time. The gray cold months of January and most of February (depending on the timing of Easter). But also the whole long hot summer. The time when we are expected to vacation, to rest, to restore ourselves. A lot happens in ordinary time. Weddings, births, vacations, the end of school and the beginning. We travel, we visit, we walk and bike, we swim and ski. All on our own schedule, our own time, our ordinary time.
