On the 12th Day of Christmas

For those who aren't aware of it, today is the 12th day of Christmas. This reference is not to the twelve days prior to Christmas (obviously) as people commonly believe, but rather to the twelve days after Christmas. The twelfth night after Christmas is the night upon which the Magi (Three Wise Men) arrived in Bethlehem to behold the newly born King, a.k.a, the Baby Jesus. I believe that the celebration of the 12th night is primarily a Catholic tradition, mostly if not all together forgotten by the Protestant denominations and completely ignored with the Commercialism of Christmas in America today. In fact, many Americans celebrate Christmas for months prior to December 25th as they attend a gazillion parties and buy a million presents, but they take their decorations down on the 26th. Indeed, the Christmas season doesn't truly end until today. I traditionally celebrate Epiphany (as 12th night is also known) by not taking down my tree until after today. Likewise, in my family we exchange one last gift on 12th night, a goofy joke gift goes to each and every one of us.

To all of you, a Happy 12th Night of Christmas from Sarah, Daisy, and Madison! Take a moment to enjoy the gifts that Christ gave us through his death. We would give you the gift of a goofy picture, but my internet has been ALL screwed up since Thanksgiving. I tried to use dial up through work, and it was so slow that I could barely even log in to upload text to my blog!! I can’t imagine trying to get a picture uploaded. I am now remembering just how spoiled I am to have DSL.

Yesterday we took the day off to keep Virginia while Amanda and Stephen went to his cousin’s wedding in West Monroe. Virginia and I had a great time; we played all afternoon and into the evening. A couple of months ago she became vertically mobile. She has REALLY gotten the hang of it. It is amazing to see the difference in the type of play she is interested in since I kept her in October.