Tomorrow is DL Hammons's Deja Vu Blogfest, a chance to recycle a post you love, or one you wish would've gotten more attention the first time around. I hesitated signing up because tomorrow is my daughter's school program, and I'll be away from the computer all morning listening to cute kiddos singing. Hopefully I can manage to catch up in the afternoon!
To me, the holidays are incomplete without music. Participating in choirs (and also band in high school) meant months of practicing, practicing, practicing words and tunes that always shifted something inside me. I can live without the lights, the sweets, the gifts and cards. What I can't live without is that resonance of joy and mystery, the mighty made weak and rich made poor for our sake.
And speaking of things I can live without--one of my biggest holiday pet peeves is the misuse and misunderstanding of the Twelve Days of Christmas. People, these are NOT days PRIOR to Christmas day, they are AFTER Christmas day! The twelve days are the period between Christmas and Epiphany (Jan 6; also called Three Kings Day, in remembrance of the Magi's arrival and gift-giving). During this period, the liturgical colors switch from advent purple to white. You can read more about them HERE (includes an interesting explanation of the song, too).
It's the third week of advent right now, not the "second day of Christmas." OK? Thank you. I needed to get that off my chest.
What do you consider a holiday essential? Do you have a holiday pet peeve?
I didn't know that about the twelve days of Christmas were after the day. I can't wait to help you spread the word. I just need someone to start singing that song...
ReplyDeleteI'm late handing out prizes for the Well I Never blogfest...you're a winner. Shoot me your address and I'll send you a package in time for one of the days of Christmas ;)
MissVSpeaks (at) gmail (dot) com
Vicki: I'd completely forgotten you were having giveaways with the fest! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how the Twelve days got mixed up for folks. I imagine it's partly because many Protestants have ditched using the full church calendar, so they've lost track of these old traditions.