Celebrate! All year long ...

Happy Epiphany!!!

We hope that you are celebrating the King of kings all day long today as we remember the time that the kings from the east visited Him, bringing their gifts.

We're going to end our little blog season where we began and walk out the door we opened back in the middle of November. What a blessing it has been to celebrate Christmas with all of you. Thank you for all of your pictures and posts and comments and emails. We had a feeling that if a group of women who love Jesus got together for long, He would do something very, very special. Our God is so good!

Even though the Christmas season is officially over at the end of today, we encourage you to keep celebrating Jesus all through the year. Remember that holidays are really holy days. And if you want to get technical, every day is a holy day when you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

When we think of holy days, we think of the ancient times when priests would lead the people in celebrating their faith. In Christ, we are all priests:

But you are
a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for his own possession,
that you may proclaim
the excellencies of him
who called you
out of darkness
into
his marvelous light.
I Peter 2:9

As we go forward through the rest of the year, we pray that you will "proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Yes, that is our prayer for you. And we hope that you will take a minute and say that prayer for us too.

This blog will be largely inactive over the coming months, although we may surprise you with a post here and there. If you subscribe, you should get an email letting you know when new content is available. We hope you'll keep us bookmarked. Lord willing, we'll be back posting daily from mid-November through Epiphany again during the 2009 Christmas season. Believe it or not, we still have a few things our Friends have sent that we didn't fit in this year and we are looking forward to sharing them with you next year. And the ideas... we have had so many amazing ideas sent to us already for next year. You ladies are awesome with the ideas! Thank you!!!

Will you do us one tiny favor, though? We've got another little project in the works... a blog titled "Celebrate!" Check back here on February 1st for details and links that will lead you there. We're assembling a team of writers who will post periodically through the rest of the year, sharing devotional thoughts, crafts, decorating tips, traditions, organizational/planning strategies, party ideas and resources. We'd love to share the other holidays with you too. You see, we just can't help but Celebrate Jesus all year long.

See you soon! Many blessings and much love ...

Friends

Celebrating Epiphany...

It's not just a random end to the Christmas season, after which we can "officially" take down the decorations and go back to real life. Epiphany is a holiday celebration in its own right.

Going back to the book we mentioned in the second post of this little blog, 52 Ways to Make Christmas Special, let's take a look at what the author has to say about Epiphany.


Epiphany falls on January 6, the twelfth night of the twelve days of Christmastide. Indeed, Epiphany is sometimes called Twelfth Night.

"Manifestation" Epiphany literally means "manifestation" or "coming to light." It is the time set aside by the western church for celebrating the Magi's heeding of the message they perceived in a brilliant star in the east. The event is regarded as the manifestation of Christ to the Gentile world....

Epiphany is an excellent day to turn your meditative thoughts to the manifestations of the Lord in your own life.

Epiphany is also a day for recalling the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus, whom they regarded as a new king. They presented gold, a symbol of kingship; frankincense, the incense that symbolized His priesthood; and myrrh, the expensive embalming ointment that symbolized His eventual death...

Gift Giving on Epiphany Epiphany is a ideal day for giving a special gift to someone you dearly cherish. Make your love manifest. In many Latin American countries, gifts are not exchanged until Epiphany. You may not feel comfortable doing that in your family, but you may want
to hold back one gift for opening on Epiphany. It may be a gift of a spiritual nature--such as a new Bible, prayer book, hymnal, inspirational book or journal, or a piece of jewelry or art with religious symbolism.

You may want to make Epiphany your time for remembering the clergy in your church with a gift. Thank them for being "prophets, priests, and kings" -- those who preach the word, pray for and minister to the people, and have spiritual authority--in your life and that of your local
church.

Epiphany is also a good time for making a trip to visit someone you haven't seenin a while. Bring tidings of great joy. Make your presence a gift to a friend or relative or homebound member of your church congregation.

Epiphany has many wonderful concrete and symbolic aspects to its celebration. Don't miss out by ending your holiday season too soon!

Since it IS a little late for holding back a Christmas gift until Epiphany, consider leaving a special written gift for someone you love... a blessing, a Scripture, a short note telling them why THEY are a gift from God to you.

THE gift...

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! ~2 Corinthians 9:15

I don't think anything in life is random. There is nothing that happens by chance. I didn't always think that. I figured that if I got to a stoplight and it was green... well, it just happened to be green. If I bumped into a long lost friend at the grocery store... hey, what a neat coincidence. I certainly didn't see life as being intricately scripted by God. And yes, I was a believer at the time.

Then one summer in a very special Bible study, we studied the attributes of God. I walked away from that study with a sense that every moment of life is a moment of Divine intervention. Whether it is a check that arrives in the mail just in time to pay a bill that's due or a phone call that delays me five minutes, making me miss being in a major traffic pile-up, I know for certain that God is sovereign. (By the way... if you've never pondered God's sovereignty in your life, I urge you to do so. It will absolutely blow your mind.)

So... today when we were taking down our Christmas decorations, we took a little break to sit down as a family and watch a little bit of a totally crazy old movie. Our Christmas tree stays up through Epiphany, so there it stood in the corner of the family room, untouched by the undecorating frenzy that was going on throughout the rest of the house. My daughter commented, "Oh no... I think we forgot a Christmas present." Sure enough, there was a present in a small box, wrapped in blue paper, still lying under the tree. I stared at it and then I remembered that it was one of the gifts our first grader had made in school. The tag said, "To Jesus." It was symbolic of our gift to Jesus for His birthday... our hearts. It struck me at that moment that Jesus wants us to give Him our hearts each day.

A little later in the day, someone had moved the present from under the tree and left it lying in the middle of the floor. I picked up the present to put it back under the tree and noticed writing on the wrapping paper. When I read the writing, I had another "epiphany." The wrapping paper said, "Jesus is the greatest gift." And, "Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving." Wow. I thought it was all about our giving our hearts to Jesus daily. Then I realized that it is all about Him giving Himself to us. How kind of our Lord to take me beyond myself and focus my heart on Him. It was no coincidence we didn't notice that present until today. It was a well-timed lesson from the heart of a loving Heavenly Father.

So tonight as I type this post about the days leading to Epiphany, the day of gift-giving, I treasure His gift to me that allows me to give my gift to Him. And another verse comes to mind...
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8

Three Kings Day...

In Latin America, the Epiphany celebration is called Three Kings Day. Although the exact tradition varies from country to country, what remains the same is the idea that the Three Kings visit children on the eve of Epiphany, bringing the good children candy and toys, while naughty children get dirt or coal. In some countries, children place boxes of hay or straw under their beds as a treat for the Kings' horses as they travel from house to house.

Earlier this week Walmart announced that the Three Kings would visit their stores in certain areas. Walmart is stocking toys for the holiday and children who shop at those participating Walmart stores will be able to have their pictures taken with the Three Kings on Janurary 3rd and 4th.

Not only is Walmart celebrating Three Kings Day, but Nickelodeon is premiering a special Three Kings Day episode of Dora the Explorer on Tuesday night, January 6th.

To read more about Three Kings Day, check out these sites:

~Three Kings Day in Puerto Rico

~Three Kings Day Traditions

~Dora's Three Kings Party

The Celebration Continues ... by Shannon

In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.

Psalm 5:3 (NIV)

In our family, the Christmas season didn't end until the magi arrived. No decoration could be removed until Epiphany … the tree stayed up, all ornaments were left untouched, and the stockings were even returned to the hearth as if Santa never came. Just as the season of Advent was our recognized period of waiting for the Christ child to arrive, the span between Christmas Day and Epiphany was time to wait for the three kings (yep, I know now it wasn't necessarily three and that they were magi not kings, but I didn't know that then!).

I always felt like something was missing when I visited friends' houses in late December and early January and saw the Christmas decorations cleared away so quickly. It made my heart sad to see the twinkling Christmas lights go dark on the 26^th. I felt like shouting, "It's not over yet! The season isn't complete! We're supposed to still be waiting!"

And yet how often do I hurry on with my life, living as if Christ didn't come or at least isn't relevant today? I am so hasty to move into the rest of the week once Sunday has passed, or to dive into the next season once Christmas or Easter is over, or to simply rush into my day after a brief morning devotion. I rarely allow myself to sit and wait in expectation before the Lord as the psalmist did. Just as I was sad for my friends to miss out on celebrating Epiphany like my family did, what is God sad that I'm missing today? What blessings would I see if I would only wait?

'Tis the Season...

A few years ago when my husband and I were expecting our first child, I was busy trying to rethink how Christmas was going to look. At the time, we were spending Christmas Eve with my husband's family and driving back to our house 30 minutes away at bedtime. On Christmas morning, we would wake up and read the Christmas story and exchange gifts at 6:00am and then drive two hours away to my Granny's for brunch, which was around 10am. After brunch, we'd drive to my dad's farm a few miles down the road from Granny and spend a couple of hours there. Then around 3:00, we'd drive two hours back to my husband's mom's, where we'd eat dinner and exchange gifts with them.

As I sat pondering our first Christmas with a child of our own, I was in tears. Christmas Eve was a tradition with Jimmy's family that began when his dad died. We couldn't cut that out. And Christmas brunch at Granny's? I was confident Christmas couldn't come without that. And Christmas at the farm? How could I be 10 minutes away and not spend time there? And Christmas dinner with Jimmy's family? It's the only time we'd see Jimmy's brother, Tommy, and his wife, Tracy, because they spent Christmas Eve with Tracy's family. And we really wanted to have something special with our family... just us. How? How? How could we do everything with a six month old in tow?

Before it even happened I was lamenting the loss of a quiet family Christmas where our kids would be nestled all snug in their beds and awaken to a relaxed morning of family devotions and gifts and food and laughter. Then one day we were riding in a car to who-knows-where and I was reading a little book I picked up at the Christian bookstore. The name of the book was 52 Simple Ways to Make Christmas Special. Its author's name wasn't even on the front cover, but on the inside I found out Jan Dargatz wrote the little book that changed Christmas. Well, actually it wasn't the whole book that changed Christmas. It was the "Introduction."

I'd love to tell you to buy the book and read it. But, alas, as far as I can tell, it is now out of print and available only on the secondary book market... and not so reliably there.

So, I'm going to share with you that introduction. Full credit for writing it goes to Jan Dargatz. All praise and glory for the revolutionary way it transformed my life... that goes to the Most High.

Introduction

Christmas is not just a day. It is a full season with three traditional parts:

*The sober, reflective, preparatory time of Advent, which comes twenty-one to twenty-eight days before Christmas Day. It is during this time that the Church, traditionally, has prepared itself for the coming of Jesus the Christ: His past coming as a squalling infant into the dark grotto of a Bethlehem stable; His future coming as King of kings and Lord of lords, the Messiah who will rule and reign forever; and His present coming into our individual lives and our church communities as living Lord, Redeemer, Savior, Healer, Deliverer, and ever-present Friend of friends.

*The grand celebration of Christmastide, the twelve days beginning with Christmas Day. It is during this time that Christians around the world have traditionally "made merry" with joyous abandon. Christmastide is a time for family and friends, for singing and feasting, for sending greetings and hosting parties. It is a time for rejoicing that heaven has struck a path all the way to the very gates of hell and has invited every human being to walk upon it toward everlasting life.

*Epiphany, January 6, the day that the Church commemorates the arrival of the wise men from the East bearing their precious gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It is a day traditionally associated with gift giving, a day for reflecting upon the Gift of gifts from a heavenly Father to a needy world. Many of us have combined the gift giving of Epiphany with the celebration of Christmas Day.

The three facets of the Christmas season have a wonderful harmony to them. The sober, reflective, quiet days of Advent give way to the glorious light and merriment of Christmas, and out of a spirit of joy and thanksgiving, gifts flow naturally.

In our culture today, the three seasons of Christmas seem to have become a little muddled. Our children often await Santa Claus more than the birth of the Christ child. We put up our Christmas trees just after Thanksgiving and take them down the day after Christmas rather than putting them up on Christmas Eve and enjoying them until Epiphany. We delight in the bustle and parties before Christmas Day and then wonder why we feel a little depressed and lonely in the days that follow it. By New Year's Day, the party seems to be over. We begin the new year in debt, dread taking down the lights on the house and bushes outside, resolve to embark on major life changes, and often harbor a lingering feeling of unfulfillment.

52 Simple Ways to Make Christmas Special is a challenge to return to tradition. It calls for Advent to be a personal advent, Christmastide to be a celebration, and Epiphany to be a glorious conclusion to the holiday season. This book provides ideas, loosely grouped, for each facet of the season...

Truly it is a marvel that we commemorate Christmas year after year after year. If Christmas were only a time of commercialized gift giving, we might have let it run its course years ago. No, our souls need Christmas. We have a deep human need to call attention to the origin of our faith on a periodic basis, to become aware once again that God reached down and extended to the earth His love incarnate. We need a starting-over point for our inner lives, a time for renewal, rededication, and rejoicing. Christmas is something we cannot do without.

Therefore, let's make Christmas even more special. Let's delight in it to the fullest! Let's mark the holidays as holy days. In so doing, we will find more meaning, more fulfillment, and more joy.

Looking at our schedule, we realized December 25th wasn't the be-all and end-all of observing Christmas. As we spread our visits out over the whole season, our time with loved ones actually increased since we weren't trying to see everyone within one 24-hour period. Instead of observing Christmas--watching it go by in a manic fury-- we began to celebrate Christmas... to slow down and seek the Christ whose birthday it proclaims.

Since that 52-Simple-Ways-rethink of the schedule, when I hear "Merry Christmas," I think, Yes, it is! And when someone says "Seasons Greetings," I want to say, Thanks for the reminder it's a whole season, not just December 25th! And "Happy Holidays"... I think I love that one best of all. They are, after all, happy, holy days!