It's Twelfth Night. I don't know that it was ever part of my religious training. It certainly was never mentioned during the three years of Lutheran catechism classes I had to attend. It was, however, part of our family tradition.
My mother insisted that our Christmas decorations stayed up until Twelfth Night. This wasn't easy in those days of live trees, but we had the advantage that we had a tree farm. The tree was chopped down and fresh three or four days before Christmas. Every day, we children were told to crawl under that prickly tree to put water in the tree stand. Even with all the care, by January 6 there were few needles left on that tree.
My mother's insistence on Twelfth Night might have had something to do with her birth date, January 7.
Taking everything down was a way to clear the house for her birthday celebrations.
I don't do exactly what I should do on Twelfth Night, make sure that no decorations are left up by nightfall. Instead, this will be the last night I put all the interior and exterior lights on for the last time until next December. Tomorrow, the decorations start to come down, but it will take me almost a week since Gary is in Illinois and I am working on this by myself. Each day during the next week, I'll remove decorations from one room.
The temperatures are climbing here in Wisconsin. By Saturday, we'll see 40 degrees F. and that means melting. Since before Christmas, the Lutheran cemetery has been snowed in, along with the wreath on my parents' grave. Now I'll be able to retrieve it along with the candle Tisha placed there on Christmas Eve.
By Sunday, everything will be put away for another year. There is always a little sadness in my soul as the holidays come to the end, so I turn my thoughts to spring.
My mother insisted that our Christmas decorations stayed up until Twelfth Night. This wasn't easy in those days of live trees, but we had the advantage that we had a tree farm. The tree was chopped down and fresh three or four days before Christmas. Every day, we children were told to crawl under that prickly tree to put water in the tree stand. Even with all the care, by January 6 there were few needles left on that tree.
My mother's insistence on Twelfth Night might have had something to do with her birth date, January 7.
Taking everything down was a way to clear the house for her birthday celebrations.
I don't do exactly what I should do on Twelfth Night, make sure that no decorations are left up by nightfall. Instead, this will be the last night I put all the interior and exterior lights on for the last time until next December. Tomorrow, the decorations start to come down, but it will take me almost a week since Gary is in Illinois and I am working on this by myself. Each day during the next week, I'll remove decorations from one room.
The temperatures are climbing here in Wisconsin. By Saturday, we'll see 40 degrees F. and that means melting. Since before Christmas, the Lutheran cemetery has been snowed in, along with the wreath on my parents' grave. Now I'll be able to retrieve it along with the candle Tisha placed there on Christmas Eve.
By Sunday, everything will be put away for another year. There is always a little sadness in my soul as the holidays come to the end, so I turn my thoughts to spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment