I'd say you'll improve around Christmas (8)
I believe the answer is:
yuletide
'christmas' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'i'd say you'll improve' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'i'd' could be 'id' and 'id' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'around' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for yuletide that I've seen before include "time of year" , "in depths of winter" , "Present time" , "Christmas period" , "Yeti duel in season of peace" .)