The Second Day of Christmas

As I've mentioned before, we are celebrating the 12 days of Christmas, spreading out the celebrating. Next year we are considering even spreading out family gifts--letting Wombles give his gifts on one day, Pixie hers on another, etc. For this year, J and I have planned little gifts or activities to take us through 12th night. This year the split between activity and treat is about 50/50. There will be days with a new baby when activities are not feasible, but I like the idea of the emphasis being on doing something together. Some of the 12 Days of Christmas have particular significance.

Today, for example, is Boxing Day, which has a couple of different historical traditions. Among others, one of these is giving to the poor or less fortunate. December 26th is also the feast day of St. Stephen, one of the original deacons of the early church who was charged with caring for the widows and orphans. So, for the kids' treat today, they each got a certain amount of money to spend in the World Vision Gift Catalog. We had a couple of print copies for them to look through. It was good to discuss the different options available and how they could benefit others. The kids had the choice of spending the money independently or pooling their money together. J walked them through it and helped (Wombles and Bud can't read the text yet, much less do the math to figure out how to combine their budgets). Pixie had definite ideas of her own, and ended up pooling with her brothers to give some very cool gifts to people in other parts of the world. While I think we both like the idea of getting out and serving in our own community on this day, this was perfect for this year (when we can't plan anything definitive; thanks, Cuatro) and will likely become a tradition.

Tonight at family worship we sang Christmas carols and then prayed for the gifts the kids gave and the people who would be receiving them. The needs in the world are so great. It is a comfort to know that when Jesus walked the earth, he didn't just care for people's spirits abstracted from their bodies...he took care of their bodies and hearts and needs in order that they might know him more fully. And we are thankful.

And looking forward to the third day of Christmas!