First Day of Christmas

For many of us it may be the last day of Christmas. But in Colonial times and beyond, Christmas Day itself was a solemn religious holiday, followed by eleven days of parties and celebrations of various kinds. It passes through New Year’s Day and ends at Epiphany, traditionally the date of the visit of the three kings or three magi, depending on your preference. For me, the first day of Christmas is fairly quiet. My family, or most of it, has come and left after much food, gifts, conversation, board games, home repairs by my son-in-law, and general being together.I spend the rest of the aftermath days until the new year reading some of the many books and doing one of the many jigsaw puzzles I always get for Christmas, un-decorating, and walking in the winter wonderland.

Two poems for the after days,, the first from Howard Thurman and second from me.
The Work of Christmas
When the song of angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas beings:
To find the lost
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among the brothers,
To make music in the heart.

Christmas 2024
The Christmas myth is rich and warm
Amidst the bleak of winter.
A baby, humbly born
Yest destined to become
A guide unto the nations.
Shepherds, angels, kings
A star in the East
All come to welcome him.

And so we celebrate—
Family, like Mary, Joseph and Jesus
Community, like shepherds, angels and kings
Gifts given, gifts received
Like modern day Pandoras,
A year ago we opened
A box labeled 2024
It was a hard and fear-filled year.
As we approach its end
We celebrate the gift of hope
That casts out fear and welcomes joy.