Tag: family

Friends on Twelfth Night

“O star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.”

The Twelve Days of Christmas are officially over today.  While I always feel a little sad about ending the season, I have had so many wonderful celebrations and illuminated moments this year! Besides seeing “The Nutcracker,” “A Christmas Carol,” and three magical Christmas concerts, I had fabulous family celebrations, Christmas teas with friends, and adventures looking at lights. Then, to mark the end of the Christmas season, a group of faith-filled friends gathered  last evening to celebrate Twelfth Night and the Epiphany, sometimes referred to as “Little Christmas.”

Seventeen of us gathered at a cozy home, still beautifully decorated and lit for Christmas with a magnificent tree, creche, and evergreen boughs.  We intentionally entered into a familiar final Christmas celebration focused on the story of three “kings” who make a long journey, following a star. We proclaimed readings from the Gospel of Matthew, T.S.Eliot’s “The Journey of the Magi” and Jan Richardson’s “Wise Women Also Came.” Then we held a special ritual for Epiphany written by my dear friend, Tessa Bielecki from her book SEASON OF GLAD SONGS: A CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY. 

We sang “We Three Kings,” meditated on the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, blessed chalk and then wrote the initials of the three Magi (Caspar, Melchoir, Balthazar) along with the date: C+20+M+B25, over the front door to light the way of pilgrims and seekers.  Afterward, we feasted on delicious appetizers, sweets, and a traditional spicy Kings’ Cake with hidden surprises. As conversations and laughter flowed, I felt surreally caught up in the light of the “star of wonder” by this mystical circle of friends who miraculously decorate my life every day.  

I have said this before, but no one on the planet is luckier than me to have such richness. I say “luckier” rather than “blessed” because I believe God blesses everyone equally. Some of us, in rare moments of transcendence, realize this. No explanations can be given. It is simply pure luck (some call it grace), a free gift, to have such loving friends, rituals, precious moments of togetherness, when all troubles and suffering are put aside and we bask in the glory of a starry night. The only response is gratitude, big gratitude, in my case.

“Friends are the best presents,” is a phrase embroidered on a little Christmas pillow given to me many years ago. May we never take that for granted.

Heirlooms on the Sixth Day of Christmas

“All that I come from, all that I live for, and all that I’m going to be, My precious family/Savior/Jesus is more than an heirloom to me.”(“Heirlooms” by Amy Grant)

“Your house is like a museum,” remark folks who first step over the threshold.  I never know how to take that statement these days when the minimalist movement reigns supreme. Usually, I just smile and usher people into my home, full to the brim with antiques, old photographs, books, and family heirlooms. Unabashedly sentimental, I am the keeper of family memories and ours is a house of carefully curated collections. Following Marie Condo’s advice, I only keep what I love, and I love a multitude of beautiful things, especially my Christmas heirlooms.

Each ornament has a story; the Nativity figures are the carriers of childhood memories, and each Christmas book unlocks new insights that echo across time with every reading. (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and The Birds Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggen, are two of my all-time favorites.)  My old Christmas teapot, cups and saucers, and dinnerware, some full of nicks and scratches, have graced decades of family and friends’ dinners.  I offer a Christmas blessing from my favorite poinsettia wine glasses, hand-painted by my daughter many years ago. All are sacramental to me, containers of food and drink that nourish the mind, body, and spirit.

Like the proverbial broken record, I remind my grandchildren that the stories behind the heirlooms are what matters. They bind us together in a faith that looks through the trappings of possessions, prestige, and power. This is not about material things at all, but about what they represent: a tradition focused on connections, deeper meanings, and the hidden inner light emanating from every corner of life.

I hope my grandchildren will want some of the heirlooms I have saved for them. However, what I hope the most is that they know their worth is far more precious to me than anything I own. Love is the only heirloom to pass on to future generations.