Little Christmas

As some of you already know - and the rest are about to find out, and would have somewhat sooner if I hadn't interrupted with this - MY WIFE and I celebrate Christmas on January 6th.

"January 6th? Why is that?", some of you say.

"Because we are traditionalists," we reply.

January 6th, otherwise known as Little Christmas or Epiphany, is the date given, in some Christian tradition, as the day the Three Wise Men (or Three Kings, or Magi) visited the infant Jesus and presented their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

(I assume Mary and Joseph appreciated the thought, and maybe especially the gold, but what an infant would do with such things is beyond me.)

Aside from historicity, celebrating on January 6th allows us to reserve our holiday best for other relatives and friends on or around December 25th. We are less harried and hurried during the days when most Americans are collapsing from fatigue. We have a spectacularly relaxed personal celebration on the 6th, reserved exclusively for the two of us.

(For those with an eye for bargains, it also allows one to pick up various Christmassy doo-dads and ephemera at cut-rate prices. Stores remove all vestiges of commercial xmas trappings immediately after the 24th, moving on to Valentines Day and other more profit-driven concerns. That's not a huge incentive for us to celebrate 'late', but it is there and may be of use to you, if you wish.)

In addition to our usual January 6th festivities, we will also be celebrating another Christmas on the 12th this year. That's because my cousin, Scott, and his lovely wife, Andrea, were sick on December 25th and missing from the usual Christmas Day at my Uncle Rick's place. We will be having the clan gather again on the 12th to celebrate with Scott and Andrea. This extension of the season is not unwelcome. Other than a chance to see good people and enjoy their company, it means another day of gifts and another chance for me to cook a Christmas dinner. Yay! And Yum!

So, Merry Little Christmas!



Soon, with more better stuff.

[Illustrations from  http://www.hzmre.com/holidays/adventtable.htm]