It has more to do with holidays and feasting than Christmas, so perhaps we should postpone the festivities until next year
It being nearly Christmas, let us be mindful of our wise government’s advice. The official guidance on “Christmas bubbles” opens: “The festive period is an important time for many people of all faiths and none who come together over the holidays” – which apparently means that the festive period is not important for people who come together, but to carp thus is to be un-festive.
The Latin festum means a festival or holiday, and “festive” hungrily enters the English language in the 17th century to mean, particularly, pertaining to a feast. (Eating and celebration go together, of course, in “feast day”.) Thereafter “festive” can mean simply convivial or cheerful, an attitude not confined to the darkest time of year. (Wordsworth, 1815: “Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go? / Festively she puts forth in trim array”.)