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

Getting together with friends...

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received the food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people... ~Acts 2:46-47

What a blessing it is to get together with other believers and celebrate faith and friendship. Christmastide traditionally was a time for parties and visits from friends and family. Even in modern times, kids are out of school and many people take the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day off of work, making it a great time to socialize.

Of course, if your week between Christmas and New Year's is like ours, it is usually filled with organizing and cleaning and resting from the frantic pace leading to Christmas Day. The last thing in the world we would do is bring others into our "transitional" homes... homes that are in transition from the holidays to the daily routine of life in the winter. But let's take a challenge. Let's purpose in our hearts to fellowship with other believers sometime during the month of January.

It doesn't have to be at some one's home, but there IS something special about coming together in a home. Make it simple. Let the guests help. Here are some ideas...

~Host an ice cream sundae dessert. You provide the ice cream and paper products and drinks. Ask your guests to bring their favorite sundae toppings. Enjoy a couple of hours of fellowship in the evening.

~Game Night. Invite guests to bring their favorite sweet or salty snack. You provide drinks, paper products and games. Set up different games in different rooms and play for about 45 minutes, then rotate 2-3 times. Games like Pictionary, Apples to Apples, Charades, Catch Phrase and Mad Gab are great for large groups of people.

~Movie Night. This popcorn-filled night is perfect for anyone. Select 5 or so movies appropriate to the guests you invite and place them in a non-see-through bag. Ask the guests to bring their favorite soft drink or juice and you provide the popcorn and paper products. Draw a red star with a Sharpie marker on the bottom of the paper cups. Whoever has the starred cup gets to select the movie of the night out of the bag.

~Keepin' Warm Night. Ask guests to bring new winter scarves, gloves or hats for a local charity like the Rescue Mission. Serve tea, hot chocolate and coffee with a variety of creamers along with warm brownies or cobbler and ice cream.

~Pizza Night. Prepare pizza dough and sauce and ask guests to bring toppings. Let the guests take turns creating their own mini pizzas and sampling each other's. You provide paper products and drinks, in addition to the pizza "bases."

The only thing that would limit your celebrations is your own imagination. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you entertain:

1. Think about what groups of people would be a natural fit. You don't want to create any awkward situations if you can help it.

2. You don't have to have a full dinner party to enjoy food and fellowship with friends. Make it simple so that you can focus on your guests.

3. Guests generally want to do something to contribute to the evening, but not all of them want to have to stay in the kitchen all day cooking to be there. Don't be afraid to ask guests to bring something to the gathering, but be careful to make it something easy and inexpensive.

4. If you plan activities like a movie or games, incorporate natural breaks in which people can leave if they need to go early. Otherwise, make certain to specify a start and end time for the evening.

5. Inviting families to evening events can be tricky. Make sure you have available a place where smaller children can go to change into jammies or even drift off to sleep. Diaper changing and nursing areas are also a nice way to make families feel welcome. Many high schools now require students to have a certain number of community service hours to graduate. See if you can find 2-3 high school girls who would be willing to earn community service hours by supervising a kids' room during the party.

We would LOVE to hear the ideas you have for fun, simple entertaining opportunities. Please take a minute to share...

Happy New Year!

Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth,

do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18-19

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old has passed away;

behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

The other Christmas Book...

Of course THE Christmas Book that is the guide for the whole celebration is the Bible. You really don't need any other book to make Christmas happen. Meditating on God's Word and letting it dwell richly in your heart is the key to the most successful of all Christmas celebrations. And if you'll carry that habit with you into the new year, you'll find yourself not only celebrating Christ's birth, but you'll catch yourself celebrating the joy of knowing Jesus each and every day.

AFTER the Bible, the book that I find most helpful for the holiday season is The Christmas Book. You see, our church's women's ministry hosts a wonderful event early in November each year. It features breakfast, a devotional talk, wonderful music, and workshops designed to help women prepare their hearts and homes for the holiday season that goes from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

At that event one year, I had the blessing of attending a seminar by an amazing woman of God name Debby. She is an interior designer and hostess extraordinaire. Although I learned enough to keep me busy for years to come, the one take-away that I went home and implemented immediately was The Christmas Book. Think of it as Holiday Headquarters.

Here is my Christmas Book. It is a two-inch, three-ring binder. The cover is courtesy of my youngest child.

Inside, The Christmas Book has dividers separating the different sections. The pages in each section are secured in page protectors to keep them safe and clean.

Here are two pages from the Advent section. Under Advent, we keep printouts of the Advent verses we use from year to year.

And here is a print out of Jesse tree symbols used as a kids' craft.

The recipe section holds ALL the recipes for the entire season, from Thanksgiving favorites to our Christmas Eve chili dinner to our Christmas Day Big Family Meal. Christmas cookie recipes, quick and easy meals for the hectic December schedule and actual menu plans are included in the recipe section too. As Debby pointed out in the workshop, if you go ahead and plan your meals from Thanksgiving through Christmas ahead of time, you can take advantage of the sales and shop very economically. Choosing your cookie recipes well in advance allows you to plan for teacher and neighbor presents as well as entertaining.

One of my favorite sections is the gifts section. I keep our master Christmas list in here each year... the list of who got what and our gift-giving budget. I write down teacher gifts and neighbor gifts and the years that we make those gifts, I snap a picture to remember what we did. But my favorite part of the gift section is the kids' Christmas lists that they wrote themselves. Such treasures!

All those Christmas workshops yield a wealth of ideas, so I have a section devoted to notes from that women's ministry event, as well as articles I find in magazines or online that deal with organizing and planning and strategies to keep Christ in the center of Christmas.

We have a section for Christmas cards and letters, where we have placed a copy of each letter we've sent out and each card. We keep printouts of names and addresses of people to whom we send cards. This year, we started a new tradition and put the Christmas letter on our family blog. I'll print it out and put it in the book too.

An entertaining section holds copies of party invitations and plans for gatherings we've hosted and attended. Plus some ideas we'd love to try in the future.

The final official section is for decorating and crafts. It holds pictures and directions that we've found in magazines as well as photos we've taken while out and about during the holiday season. It is our headquarters for future creative plans and our handbook for "how we did that" so we can do it again in years to come.

The Christmas Book allows me to be purposeful during the holidays. When I plan well, I have time to spend in fellowship with my sweet Savior and time to enjoy my family and friends.

I even have secret plans for the plan book. Since The Christmas Book is as much a history book as an organizational tool, I have all our family traditions from devotions to recipes to parties in one place. When my daughter marries, I'll give her a Christmas Book of her very own, complete with copies of the devotionals and recipes we've used over the years. She and her husband will make their own traditions, but she will carry to her new home a legacy from her family. While I'm at it, I think I'll make a couple more for my daughters-in-law too.

Un-decorating...

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:13-14

Well... that's a pretty bizarre Scripture for a post about taking down Christmas decorations and organizing the attic. Granted, it's not what you'd expect, but hang close for a little bit.

While the season of Christmas continues through Epiphany, life marches on and we are off work or out of school or have help at home on a schedule that is often beyond our control. Some of us had all the decorations down and stored away by the end of the day, December 26th. Some of us will hurry to get trees and garlands down before January 1st so we can start the new year with a clean, organized house. Some of us will take down lights and put away the Nativity sets next weekend. And some of us... well... some of us will still be eating off the Christmas dishes right on into February... or March. Maybe the last of the decorations will be down by the time the bunnies come out. Maybe.

There is really no one set time or way of un-decorating a home that is better than another. God made you exactly the way He intended to make you. Sure, we live in a fallen world and are fallen beings, but the bottom line is that He created some of us to want it DOWN as close to 12:01 AM on December 26th as possible and some of us not to care whether there's a Santa on the side table in July. Where the rubber hits the road is in whether we keep Christmas in our hearts by focusing on Jesus daily like we did during Advent, no matter where the decorations are sitting.

At some point or another most of us are going to pack up the pretties and when we do, here are a couple of ideas to make the season of celebrating Christmas 2009 a little easier.

When you pack up everything, put your Advent calendars and wreath in a separate box from the rest of the decorations.

And as you store everything away in your attic or basement or closet, make sure you put the Advent box ON TOP and if possible IN FRONT of all the other boxes. Then, no matter where you are in your Christmas preparations when December 1st rolls around, you have everything at your fingertips to start the celebration.

A little planning in the present promises big rewards for the future.