Commemorating the Visit
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Thursday, January 06, 2011 12:06 AM
After all the excitement of this Christmas season, Camilla seemed surprised when I told her we would put out shoes for the Wise Men to fill. Yet another treat? Will these thrills never end?
Some people put out shoes on St. Nicholas Day but at my house, growing up, we always left them by the door on the evening of January 5th, the eve of Epiphany. We left lettuce or hay in the shoes for the Magi’s trusty camels, and the next morning we found our shoes full of treats, usually candy kisses or chocolate coins.
(I forgot the lettuce thing this year, but I think my kids are too young to notice.)
In our own little family we’ve adapted my family’s Advent tradition of “elf stockings” so that the “elves” deliver, instead, a small treat for each of the twelve days of Christmas. Because of this I decided to also change the Epiphany treat tradition, since our children have gotten plenty of sugar recently, and have the “Wise Men” bring a small gift instead. This year the children each received several sheets of stickers, which they both love.
(I have to say, those Wise Men live up to their names. Stickers are cheap and also consumable, which means no extra toys to clutter the house. Excellent!)
Even as a young child, I don’t remember ever believing that the Magi actually came to our house on Epiphany Eve, but I got plenty excited anyway. I loved the routine of leaving the shoes, and talking about the camels, and hearing the story of the traveling wise men and imagining them offering their gifts to the baby Jesus. I hope the tradition helps make Epiphany real to my kids as they get older.
Do you have Epiphany traditions in your family? What are they?
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