Happy Fifth Day of Christmas

We've had a very enjoyable Christmas in the high desert, with even some snow to make it a white Christmas.

While it might seem like Christmas is done and all that remains of the holiday season is New Year's, there are some old traditions that keep Christmas going. One of these is the Twelve Days of Christmas, which goes from Christmas to Epiphany, January 6, the day recognized as when the Three Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for Jesus. In fact, some European cultures celebrate Christmas with family and friends and good food, but do their gift giving on Epiphany.

One tradition my parents had that we've adopted is to open one present a day during the twelve days of Christmas (or until they run out). This allows each gift to be cherished more and for the giver to be remembered for more than a few moments. It also is a great way to teach kids (and parents) to wait. All good things come with time...and recycled presents are still happily opened because part of the fun is unwrapping a surprise!

So we still have quite a few presents under the Christmas tree. Even though Desert Boy is only 2 1/2, he seems to get the idea that he only gets to open one present a day and hasn't bothered the other ones. (Although maybe that will come at a later stage.)

The song the Twelve Days of Christmas may or may not have a secondary meaning, as this excellent article explains. The most common belief about it is that it helped Christians remember some of the important meanings of the church. I can never remember all the words to the song, much less the "hidden" meanings, so here they are:

On the First Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me A Partridge in a Pear Tree (Jesus).

On the Second Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Two French Hens (Old and New Testaments).

On the Third Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Three Turtle Doves (Three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, and Love).

On the Fourth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Four Calling Birds (Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Five Golden Rings (Five Books of Old Testament known as Torah or Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Six Geese a Laying (Six Days of Creation).

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Seven Swans a Swimming (Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and compassion).

On the Eighth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Eight Maids a Milking (Eight Beatitudes).

On the Ninth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Nine Ladies Dancing (Nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control).

On the Tenth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Ten Lords a Leaping (The Ten Commandments).

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Eleven Pipers Piping (Eleven Faithful Apostles).

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Twelve Drummers Drumming (The Twelve Points of Doctrine in the Apostles' Creed.)

You can find more explanations for all of these.

We will likely be taking down some of our Christmas decorations before the Epiphany, but we'll be enjoying the Christmas season until then. Any excuse to have a prolonged celebration is a great idea, right?!

Joy to the World

Here's the last part of Joy to the World sung by the cast of the 2009 Nativity Play. Desert Boy is on the far right in the sheep costume.



You can see some great photos of the performance on Faberlicious.

Dress Rehearsal for the Nativity Play

Merry Christmas! Tonight we will be celebrating by going to a Candlelight Service and Nativity Play. The play will include Desert Boy as a sheep. It will be his first opportunity to be in a play, and I have a feeling he will like it.

Above, he's hanging out with Mary in the stable. Mary is his cousin, so that's why he got invited into the stable. He's a pretty coordinated sheep to be sitting on a stool like that.

The play also features these three adorable angels, who tend to get distracted easily, as you will see.

Desert Boy's cousin Kayli has a solo, which she sings quite well. She is the angel Gabriel, so she had a lot of lines to memorize.

Here she is appearing to Joseph to tell him that his fiancee is with child and that it's okay.

The play is set up so you see most of the cast of characters for the entire performance. King Herod and his messenger are on the far left, the angels in the middle, Mary and Joseph in the stable on the right, and the shepherds and their sheep just off the stage.

The angels appear to have a little attitude here.

Mary and Joseph entertained themselves during slower parts by picking straw out of the manger.

Later the angels appeared to the shepherds to tell them about the newborn king.

The shepherds traveled to the stable to visit.

The sheep was left behind and was content for a little while.

The angels started singing a song...

...and the sheep decided to make a run for it, heading straight for Mama. I wonder if that will happen tonight. It will be dark in the auditorium, so it might make it harder for him to find me.

At the end, the entire cast performed Joy to the World. Minus the sheep who was hanging on to Mama. And another sheep and angel who were napping during the dress rehearsal. I think it will be an entertaining show!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Second Day of Winter

We're in the middle of a snow storm, which is appropriate for the second day of winter. The good news is that the days are getting longer now!

To celebrate, here are some photos from last weekend, when we went to get our Christmas tree.

Our plan was to drive up high enough in the mountains to get a white fir tree. They are so pretty, and the BLM permit is only $4. But the snow got a little deep.

We drove until the trucks wouldn't go any further, and we were still far from the white firs. So that meant plan B: get out the sleds and have some fun!

Megan is concentrating hard as she pulls two sleds. She is always warm, so that's why her coat is open.

Desert Boy didn't get along with the snow quite as well. He quickly tipped out of his sled and got snow covered and didn't like it.

Sometimes sledding isn't so fun.

Fortunately a little hot chocolate and some cookies can quickly brighten everyone's attitude. Not that you can tell by this photo! I love the grimaces--but they really did feel better soon.

Yum!

My husband found a nice pinyon pine tree and we took that home.

Desert Boy was old enough to help decorate it--at least he was old enough to pick up ornaments and give them to Dad to put on the Christmas tree!

Desert Destination: Kolob Canyons

We had a last-minute getaway weekend vacation, and it was nice to get out and enjoy some different scenery. Although most of our time was spent shopping, eating out, and in the hotel pool, we also went to the northwestern part of Zion National Park, called Kolob Canyons. Not far from Interstate 15 is a five-mile scenic drive with several trails leading off from it. The trails were snow-covered and we weren't prepared to go on them (we have hiked some there in the past and it is quite relaxing). Instead we enjoyed the contrast of the bright, white snow on the orange sandstone with the evergreen accents.

We didn't manage to take too many photos. Desert Boy was very interested in hiking in the snow and even places where he could slide down steeper slopes. There weren't many visitors, so he was free to run and use up some of his boundless energy. The melting snow caused extra rocks to roll down some of the road cut areas--the power of erosion was clearly evident.

If you're not hiking, this is a quick detour that shows off some of the spectacular Utah scenery. There's also an advanced canyoneering route in this area; some day I'll have to return to give it a try. For more info about Kolob Canyons, click here.