For Whovians, Christmas isn't simply a day to spend with family and loved ones, to gather around a tree and exchange gifts and tidings of comfort and joy -- it's also an important day because it signals the arrival of a new episode of Doctor Who. But it's not just any episode -- it's a magical Christmas special.

For the past 13 years, the BBC's long-running sci-fi series has featured a special Christmas Day episode, starting with Season 2's "The Christmas Invasion," the episode that introduced David Tennant's fan-favorite Tenth Doctor. However, now that Doctor Who has reached its eleventh season (and thirteenth Doctor!), there will not be a Christmas special. It was previously rumored by the Mirror that Doctor Who wouldn't feature a Christmas special this year, and now the official Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed that, indeed, this year will not feature a Christmast episode, but rather a New Year's Day special.

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A photograph taken from the last page of the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine shows that the upcoming issue, which will go on sale Dec. 13, will feature an "exclusive preview of the New Year's Day special."

The confirmation by Doctor Who Magazine means that the initial rumor, which came from the Mirror, was in fact true. In the same article the outlet also added the rumor that the New Year's Day special would be the only new episode of 2019. Whether that is actually true, however, remains to be seen.

While this will be the first time in Doctor Who's modern revival that the series will not feature a Christmas special, it will not be the first New Year's special. In fact, on January 1st, 2010, the New Year's Day special "The End of Time - Part Two" aired, a heartbreaking episode that featured David Tennant's last episode as the Doctor.

Jodie Whittaker, who currently plays the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor, made her debut as the titular Time Lord in last year's Christmas special, "Twice Upon a Time," Peter Capaldi's farewell episode.

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Doctor Who airs Sundays at 8 pm EST on BBC America in the United States and stars Jodie Whittaker as the latest iteration of the titular Time Lord. Whittaker is joined by co-stars Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill in a season spearheaded by new series showrunner, Chris Chibnall.

(via Doctor Who TV)