Today, January 6, is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, Epiphany, the day it is said that the Three Wise Men's journey culminated in the Revelation of the Baby Jesus--God revealed in physical form.
I was chatting online the other day with an acquaintance from England about when people take down their Christmas decorations. She said that she generally takes them down somewhere between Jan. 3-5 because it is considered bad luck to keep them up past Epiphany. I had to laugh (and thank my lucky stars!) because I have always used Epiphany as an arbitrary date that the Christmas decorations can come down NO SOONER THAN. Haha!
The word "epiphany," based on this divine manifestation, can also mean
"any moment of great or sudden revelation." (Collins English Dictionary)
On this twelfth day of Christmas, 2012, I had an epiphany. There were presents that I had squirrelled away that I totally forgot to put under the tree on December 24th. Whoops!
So I put together a little festive lunch with the Christmas Crackers I'd also forgotten to bring out when my mom and dad were here (and some Cheez-Its that J-Boy has now dubbed "Epiphany Crackers" to go with the Christmas Crackers) and gave the kids their bonus gifts.
Happy Epiphany, Everyone!
