It’s not available in any of the stores or sales and cannot be ordered online.

The post office won’t deliver it, the pantry or fridge won’t hold it and it can’t be put aside to be used later in the year.

It’s the gift of time.

Late December is when Dubbo – like much of Australia – puts the “closed” sign up in the window and takes a break for a while.

Some of the city’s major employers – Dubbo Regional Council and the schools – are closed for business, weekend sport is briefly on hold and many of the shops in the CBD have a notice stuck to the glass saying they will open their doors again in early January.

Some residents take the opportunity to leave town to see family or friends or to enjoy a holiday on the beach.

For those who remain, though, they find themselves living in a different city.

It’s a Dubbo of almost empty car parks and a full aquatic centre, of quiet CBD streets and busy suburban backyards, of less hustle and bustle and more saunter and stroll.

It’s a more relaxed city, a more at-ease city, a city where the days are longer and there are more hours to fill.

Dubbo’s growth of the past few years has brought many changes to the city, most of them physical.

But growth in a city, particularly rapid growth, can also change its residents.

A complaint about a traffic jam would once have been a joke in Dubbo, but that’s not the case any more – and the same goes for a complaint about not being able to get a park downtown, or the queue to be served in one of the businesses in the CBD, or the long wait for takeaway on a Friday or Saturday night.

Growing cities are busy cities, and busy cities are populated by people who are always looking for more time.

Which is why the Christmas shutdown – a forced shutdown for a lot of employees, when they must leave their desk no matter how dedicated they are or how much work they still have to do – is the most valuable present of the season.

Even the busiest person, the most ferocious go-getter, will eventually see the benefit of spending days away from work and cherishing some relaxation with the ones they love.

It’s just a matter of time.