On the Twelfth day of Christmas....

Growing up, my parents always created the Twelve Days of Christmas for my brother and I. They thought it would help to calm the Christmas morning crazy-excited-children-with-too-many-gifts syndrome. It's possible. I don't really remember being that young. But what I do remember is that Christmas Eve was time for family dinner and Church and presents from my paternal grandparents while Christmas day was St Nick gifts and my mothers family get-together. This left the 12 days for just my immediate family (or core family as my in-laws call it).

Twelfth Night (or Epiphany) was a special night where my parents pulled out all the stops and we had a fancy 4 to 5 course dinner with candles and family crystal and china. After dinner, we would exchange our gifts around the tree.

As life has gotten busier through the years, it was something my brother and I always enjoyed since Christmas day gets busier and busier with extended family and significant others joining into the scheduling.
This year, Twelfth Night is a Friday and my parents are coming up to celebrate the occasion with Matt and I. I have the menu all set to go and shopping tonight to gather all the pieces (except for the fish that will be bought the day of) and prep what I can. Most Christmas decorations are coming down and on my way into work this morning I saw many trees waiting for the trash pick-up but for me, The Season, isn't complete until Twelfth Night.

Happy Twelfth Night!