Christmas lasts until Jan. 10 this year.
Though the stores have switched their displays from Christmas décor to weight-loss accessories and Super Bowl gear, if you visit any Catholic Church you will encounter smells like pine, balsam and incense. You will see Christmas trees sparkling with lights and sanctuaries lush with velvety poinsettias. You will hear Christmas songs sung at Mass. And you’ll hear the story of the Nativity over and over again. It is as if we need time to let the grace of Christmas soak in.
By late December, however, our consumer culture is sick of Christmas. It has been celebrating it since November with a glut of holiday products and treats, a frenzy of seasonal activities, and lots of shopping. But the church has been waiting for the Lord through the holy season of Advent with silence, prayer and penance. Now that he is here, the church is ready to revel in Christmas with all her senses!
How can Catholic moms and dads continue celebrating Christmas in the domestic churches of our families after our neighbors have already taken down their trees? Being countercultural is challenging, but by creating a rich Catholic culture at home with traditions based on the liturgical year, we can give the next generation the gift of a deep love for our faith, wrapped up in the intimacy, affection and joy of family life.
Here are 12 tips, ideas and resources to help make your family’s Twelve (plus!) Days of Christmas merry and bright with Christ’s light:
- Keep Advent simple. Try to minimize extra pre-Christmas activities, bustle, parties and treats, and seek ways to pray, practice works of charity and wait for the Lord. Take the family to receive the sacrament of reconciliation.
- Celebrate Christmas starting Dec. 25! After attending Christ’s Mass, now we Catholics cue the Christmas music, the cookies, the parties and decorations! Keep that tree up, play the Christmas music, pour the eggnog and rejoice!
- The Twelve Days of Christmas: The 12 days between Christmas and the traditional date for Epiphany used to be when Christmas parties, plays, concerts and merrymaking brightened Christendom. Some families give the children a little present on each of these twelve days.
- Chalk your door with an Epiphany house blessing. On the lintel above the door, write the symbols “20 + C + M + B + 16” while saying: “The three Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, followed the star of God’s Son who became human 2,015 years ago. May Christ bless our home and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.” (Source: carmelites.net.)
- The Magi’s gifts represent Christ’s kingship, priesthood and death. Arrange a gold, frankincense and myrrh scavenger hunt, using a “Three Kings Gifts” kit. This would be a great activity for an Epiphany party — joining forces with other families helps keep the festive atmosphere going!
- Bake an Epiphany King Cake or Gallette des Rois with a hidden bean or porcelain charm inside (see page 10). Whoever finds the bean in their piece wears a crown!
- Find clever Catholic Christmas crafts on sites like catholicicing.com.
- Read beautiful Christmas picture books, such as those listed at showerofroses.blogspot.com.
- Find recipe ideas at Catholic Cuisine, familyfeastandferia.com and in books like A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz.
- Watch all your favorite Christmas movies.
- Candlelight read-aloud nights. We are a family of literature nerds, so for us, quiet evenings spent listening to favorite Christmas poems and stories like O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” imbue dreary January days with a glow of Christmas magic. The candlelight and mulled cider help. Jesus came as the Word of God, so soaking up pretty words seems fitting.
- Recall your children’s baptisms on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Jan. 10, by lighting their baptismal candles at dinnertime. Shells are a symbol of baptism, so you can make pasta shells for dinner.
Changing our holiday habits to align more closely with the life of the church is challenging — just as changing our hearts is. However, in both cases, there is joy in the process of conversion which fills us with more of Christ’s life!
Originally posted on Northwest Catholic – January/February 2016