King's Day, Epiphany

Hey everyone! Today is a day of celebration here at our house! People want to know why we celebrate this. Then they want to know how our family celebrates this special day! It's all here and more today!

Wise men still seek Jesus to adore.

Today was all about ending our Christmas celebration today! That's right we have still been enjoying many of the things that surround Christmas.

King's Day, Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, whichever you prefer to call it is the 12th day after Christmas! It's actually been around really long, and it used to be a lot more common than it is in today's world. Victorian times it was extremely popular.

People have fussed at my family and friends that Christmas is over the decorations must come down. I have a hard time not glaring or rolling my eyes each time. We celebrate Christmastide, the decorations may not even come down until Candlemas. Some people seriously leave their decorations up until February 2nd. To, me there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, we leave our Christmas village up until then.

What is Christmastide? It's the real twelve days of Christmas. The days after Christmas Day. I have a whole post on it here; Non-Christmas and Christmastide Traditions.

Why do we celebrate this? Our family chose to start celebrating this because we love Christmas and what it stands for with our family! We love the time spent together at Christmas and learning more about our Lord and Savior!

We had a big Christmas dinner tonight. We put the nativity in the center of the room surrounded by candles flickering to remind us of we are celebrating. We had roast turkey and chicken, Amish rolls,  old fashion bread stuffing, duchess potatoes, baked apples stuffed with dried fruits and nuts, new England sausage apple, and dried cranberry stuffing, glazed carrots with walnuts, mincemeat pie, plum pudding with hard sauce, cranberry chutney, and Christmas pudding, and Cherry Pie.

But, also we had a King's Cake. Not the one covered in purple, yellow, and green sprinkles that you'll see in a month's time. No, this one is called Galette des Rois which is the French version. There is a trinket hidden inside and whoever finds it gets to crack open the last Christmas cracker and wear the paper crown and gets to be the king or queen for the rest of the day! We also have the gold foil crown to wear that adores the top of the cake if they would like to wear it! Next year we may try the Italian version called a Rosca de Reyes! Or the Spanish version Roscon de Reyes

We celebrated like it was Christmas morning all over again! There was a gift for each child under the tree, but nothing in their stockings for this morning there was a treat in each of their shoes! Our kids loved this! It was hilarious to hear the squeals and laughter not long after Christmas Day!

Today I didn't have to add any decorations except for the citrus, bay leaves and cinnamon garland we had made during Christmas, and I hung it near the fire for extra smells. I also hung up some of the same garlands in the kitchen near the stove!

For the table decoration, I did tap into my Victorian flair and dress up the table that the food was to be served on. I draped all different kinds of linens on it. I had a wonderful time showcasing how blessed we are on this night while the rest of the world has already moved on to things that are shiny and sparkly of the new year.

We did watch Mass online and we were quiet as we let the Christmas story of the three wise men be read to us. How they fell to their knees in worship of Jesus. How they brought him gifts that were fit for a king.

This is why we focused on the littlest ones in the family. Because we are in deep need of little ones that will still stand for Christ when they are grown! How they will remember traditions and keep them instead of finding them ridiculous and tossing them aside like the world seems to have.

Realizing that tomorrow Christmas starts going away is very sad indeed, but I'm grateful for the new traditions in place. Especially today.