Epiphany

Whoa, so it has been a bit since I've last posted. We've all been on Christmas vacation from school--and I daresay from so many other things as well (ahem, eating as well as we should, exercsing a little extra, reading quality text . . . and the list probably goes on). Regardless, here we all are, back from our hiatus, ready for January and all of the quiet that I've come to love about this month.

It began today with some closure that I don't usually remember having for the Christmas season. My "closure" typically consists of putting away the Christmas decorations and cleaning the house. This morning at Mass though, Father reminded us that it was indeed Epiphany, and then continued on to explain how the Christmas season will officially end tomorrow with the Feast of Jesus' baptism. At the end of Mass Father invited the congreation to "adopt" the poinsettas on the altar--so 10-year-old carefully picked a beautiful red monstrosity that now sits on our dining room table.

While gorging ourselves on some Wildcard football this afternoon, I prepared the last of our Christmas goodies--peppermint oreos dipped in white chocolate. We had bought the supplies a day or so before Christmas Eve, but various head colds and flus kept us from both eating and cooking very many delights.

This evening while 9-yr-old was reviewing his lesson for CCD he found a colorful chart that explains the Church Calendar. He exclaimed, "Mom! Tomorrow is Ordianry Time--just like Father Jerry said!" Ah, Ordinary time, indeed little one. We could all use some of that in this time and life that is anything but ordinary.

So, Epiphany indeed--the Magi followed their intuition towards the ultimate Knowing. A good reminder today to follow mine towards remembering the importance of closure, enjoying the final fruits of the season, and looking forward to the clean, sparse, Ordinary time to come.