Thursday, January 5, 2023
The Twelfth Day of Christmas
Twelfth Night
Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Get ready for the magi
Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. And this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him.
We took a walk around our apartment area, and when we were coming back up our walk Jasper said, “It’s almost time for Christmas!” And I said Christmas was over, do you want it to come again, and he said, “YES!”
Jasper felt great all day. Margaret worked through some phonics with him and aimed toward memorizing the fruit of the spirit, and we ate fruit and vegetables for lunch, and the color green seemed to be everywhere. He picked out several books to read, and I read and read them, and then began falling asleep. He poked me, and I read some more. Then he began falling asleep, and then we were both falling asleep, and Margaret was laughing and poked us, and we read some more. But not much. It was time for naps.
God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
But Jasper had his two minutes of sleep already, so his nap was restless and wide-eyed. We had pinto beans, tortillas, fried eggs and sausage for snack in the morning, and then tater tots, sour cream, cottage cheese and applesauce in the afternoon, along with a watermelon gummie or two.
Christmas again? Why not? The goose is getting fat. Why wait 12 months rather than 12 days? This is the 12th day of Christmas; Twelfth Night parties in olde Englande rollicked and frolicked into the early hours.
Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness, come before him with joyful song.
One of these days we’ll have a Twelfth Night party. We’ll hide a bean in the King Cake and a pea in the Queen, and whoever gets them will reign over all. Christmas is nearly over, unless we decide with Jasper to start it all up over again. Epiphany marks the end of the holiday and the beginning of the forlornly titled Ordinary Time, which lasts till Lent, and then begins again after Easter. Not that Ordinary Time is dark or dim or forlorn, it just sounds that way to me today. I am not quite ready to end the party. Today I feel a little Jasper-ated, a little Jasper-ed up, let’s cuddle and laugh and eat pinto beans with tortillas until we drop. And start Christmas all over again!
You will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
Every day in the courts of King Jesus is a good day. The wise men and women are coming; they have been sighted just over the hill. The camels are thirsty; it’s time to fill the jars with fresh water and pour it into their troughs. Beds for the tired masters have been prepared with fresh sheets and pillows. As they arrive and worship, and then sleep, we will think again how blessed we are to be right here, right now, in the joyful house of Jesus.
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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