Of Christmas Traditions

My favorite Christmas tradition actually comes after most people are all finished celebrating Christmas.

January 6th is called "Epiphany". It is the day we use to remember the wise men who came to Jesus bearing gifts. Obviously, we do not know exactly when Jesus was born or when the wise men made it to him. We have ideas about it being several years later. So, at some point in the past, Epiphany was marked as a date some time after Christmas that would be used to represent the fact that wise men came bearing gifts for Jesus some time after his birth.

In my family, we also call this day "Little Christmas". Shortly after my parents were saved, we began a new tradition. That of only receiving three gifts from them for Christmas. These gifts could be just about anything, but we only got three. In one sense this was a stand against materialism. But, in the more meaningful sense, it was to represent the three gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus. Come January 6th we were given one more small gift from our parents.

This year, my parents decided to try out a new tradition. We had to wait to receive their gifts until Epiphany. That meant that on Christmas morning, we opened the presents we got for each as well as those that came from Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Friends, and so on.

All that to say. It's never too late to start a new tradition. Traditions can be exciting and meaningful.

I am thankful that my parents have not been afraid to make changes. Even big changes. I am thankful that they have sought the Lord and ways to use traditions as tools to cultivate a spirit of godliness in our family that testifies to the glory of our great God!