In our family, Christmas isn’t finished after Christmas Day. The 12 days of Christmas actually start on Christmas Day and end January 5th, with the Feast of the Epiphany (the feast of the three kings) on January 6th.
Some families celebrate each of the 12 Days of Christmas, along with Epiphany. In our family, we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Epiphany.
Our Non-traditional/Traditional Christmas in 2010
San Diego Christmas 2010 with Christina, Tom, Terry, Deb, Will, and Chea.
This Christmas season was very unusual because we celebrated in San Diego rather than Colorado Springs. Christina had just moved from England in early December and was starting her new coaching position in San Diego. Her husband, Tom (who’s English), was there as well, although technically just visiting until he returns to England in mid-January for his final visa interview. After that, Tom will officially move to San Diego, too! Will and Chea already live in San Diego, so it was perfect to change our normal venue this year to spend a whole two weeks together!
Christmas Eve beach volleyball with Terry, Chea, Will, Christina, and Tom.
Terry and I just returned to Colorado after a magical California-style Christmas. We had a few variations on our normal Christmas traditions, such as the addition of Santa-hat photos on the beach, Christmas Eve lunch at our favorite San Diego vegetarian restaurant, and beach volleyball on Christmas Eve before our usual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations.
Our Epiphany Celebration
Through the years, we had the January 6 tradition of focusing on the wise men’s gifts for the Christ Child. Like our Christmas Eve book, we used a favorite book we had from when Will was little. Our traditional Epiphany book is The Story of the Three Wise Kings by Tomie dePaola. It’s a lovely book (unfortunately, out-of-print, although you can still find used copies) and has some brief historical information about the wise men and Epiphany that we always enjoyed reading.
Christina (2 1/2) and Will (7 1/2) on Epiphany 1993.
On Epiphany, we gave Will and Christina one gift each in gold wrapping paper. That gift was always a video (DVD after we had a DVD player). That’s just the gift we chose, although it really could have been anything.
Even though our children are adults now, we continue to celebrate Epiphany. We aren’t together on January 6th, so we’ve had to vary our tradition. Terry and I send Will, Chea, Christina, and Tom each a DVD, and I’ll read our Epiphany book to them via Skype. (The Skype part was Christina’s idea!) So the celebration of Epiphany lives on in our family!
Does your family celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas and/or Epiphany?
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In the United States, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, is a holy day of obligation. Mary is the patroness of the U.S. under this title. The others are Christmas Day, December 25, and Mary, Mother of God, January 1. In years when January 1 falls on either Saturday (as it did in 2005) or Monday the obligation is lifted.
This looks like so much fun! I always leave my decorations up until the middle of January.
I am slow responding to this as yes, we’ve been celebrating Epiphany. We had perched the kings from 3 of our nativities in high spots throughout the house (we have toddlers) so the big girls led processions of the kings to the mangers. Then I presented the king’s cake on a cutting board wrapped like a gift. I had planned to make Moravian stars and add them to the trees, but simply ran out of time and patience. I am planning to make some new Epiphany customs with the younger branch of the family since they are pretty much stuck with the big girls customs for the preceding 12 days!
Those are wonderful ideas, Dreena! I love how you’re working to make Epiphany very special for your whole family! 🙂
Thanks for sharing the photos. It looks like you all had a great time.
Thanks so much, April! We had an absolutely wonderful time! I hope you’re having a fantastic 2011!
I love family traditions! That’s great that you’ve been able to modify it through the years to best accomodate your family. How fun to spend Christmas in San Diego! That beach looks so inviting!
Thanks, Michelle! We had SO MUCH FUN with Christmas Eve at the beach! I love Christmas in Colorado, too, but it was a great change to experience a San Diego Christmas this year!
We leave our decorations up until January 6th but don’t really celebrate the day. I have always wanted to celebrate the 12 days but it was too hectic. But it’s never too late to start a new tradition 🙂
My son and his fiance are in San Diego ! The rest of us are in Massachusetts!
happy day and happy new year!
Thanks for your comment, Marcia! We never celebrated the full 12 days either – so we could just relax after Christmas Day. I usually felt rejuvenated enough to really enjoy Epiphany on January 6th, though. I love visiting San Diego – you have a fun place to visit, too! Have a wonderful 2011!