EPIPHANY!

At an Adult Sunday School Class a few months ago, my pastor posed the question to us parents, "how do you deal with the holiday trinity...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas?" We shared ideas of what traditions we have and what things we celebrate. Proudly, I shared that for us, our "holiday trinity" would be Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Epiphany. As this day is now upon us, I am truly blessed by this.



It wasn't until I started working at St. Matthew nine years ago that I even knew what Epiphany was. I really had never heard of it or rather never paid attention to it. When I learned that Epiphany was the celebration of the Three Wise Men actually reaching Jesus after a very long, 12 day journey, I was shocked. I thought that they just showed up in Bethlehem later that night, I guess I did realize there was more to the story and that The Wise Men had to visit the king, etc but it was just easier to think they just kinda showed up to check the new little guy out and bring him some stuff.

At St. Matts they celebrated this day. Nativity sets didn't contain The Wise Men until Epiphany, there were special prayers and ways to prepare. They didn't even have their holiday party before Christmas but rather at Epiphany which was so much more pleasant for so many reasons! I started paying attention and learning and realized that the song we all hear, The Twelve Days of Christmas, isn't a countdown to Christmas but rather the celebration after Christmas and before Epiphany.

I see so many people spend the entire Advent Season talking about Christmas and counting down and even talking about the anticipation of the the birth of Christ but then take all their holiday decorations down and pack it all away on the 26th. Really? That's when the fun really begins! No more lines and fussiness at the stores. No more parties or hustle and bustle. No more stress! Just time. Just family time and reflection time and resolution time. Twelve Days to relish in all the Advent and Christmas glory. To watch the kids truly love and appreciate all that is the holidays without "one more place to be". I very purposefully do NOT touch one decoration or bring up one storage bin. I try to calm down some and focus and play with my kids and just sit back and enjoy those twelve days and what they have come to mean to me.

A few years ago, when my kids were old enough to begin understanding, we started talking about Epiphany and what it was. Alaric gets it and this year, Amara proved she did as well. We've been talking about today all week. And when I took their own Nativity sets from their bedsides last night, they knew it was because today was special.

The woke up to find all of our Nativity Sets on the dining room table along with their breakfast so we could eat our meals with Jesus.

We talked about the Kings this morning and why they were called "Wise" and pointed them out in the Nativity sets. We brainstormed what we might give to Jesus if we could bring him a gift like the Wise Men did and also what Frankincense, Gold, and Myrrh were. We also talked about what those 12 days must have been like for the Wise Men or as Alaric said, "Smart Guys" as they walked across the desert for 12 long days just to meet Jesus and how special of a guy they already knew he was going to be. We also re-read one of our Christmas story books and I asked the kids to focus on the part when the Kings arrived.

With smiles on their faces and hungry tummies, I let them eat and talk and handle all of the Nativities ( even my favorite one with help)

Today was the day to celebrate and to discover and to contemplate and to dream about what it must have been like. Nothing like Batman PJ's, Bacon, and some time with Jesus!

They ate lunch at the table too with all the Nativity sets and they would have eaten dinner as well but we are going out tonight. After lunch, I cleaned off the table and was in the kitchen and heard Mara talking. I went into the dining room to find her at the table playing with the Nativity sets saying "Hi Jesus, I'm your mama, Mary" " Hi King, what do you got?" It was a truly Grace-filled moment!

Tomorrow is the Epiphany Dinner at St. Matthew and Brian and I will be there. Just like the end of Epiphany is sad for me because I now really do have to get our my storage bins so too is this dinner. It might be my last St. Matthew Epiphany Dinner as I now move on to something new in my professional life. Hmmmm....for now, I'm just going to love this day and love my kids and love what I still have to learn!