Anyone celebrating 12th Night?

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Gidget

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Nov 24, 2007
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Boston
Greetings all,

We will be celebrating 12th night (Little Christmas, Epiphany, Three Kings Day) on January the sixth. Our planned menu, an Old English supper, is:
*Wassail
*Meat pies
*Tossed green salad
Thin slices of whole wheat bread
*Spice cake (with two beans inside)

**In olden times Christmas decorations were burned, so after we un-etrim our tree, we save a few branched to burn in the fire; we sprinkle with rosemary, bay , and frakincense.
**We put the remainder of our tree outside. We cut our stringed cranberries and popcorn from their strings (it gives us peace-of-mind knowing that the birds will not get tangled in the string and hurt themselves), and use them to fill orange cups which we tuck among the branches for the birds to feast upon; the children enjoy making the treats for the birds.
**The table is set with a red cloth and white ironware. I have a large wood bowl for the centerpiece that I fill with ornament (from the tree), and we light the diningroom ablaze with candles.
**We usually have a few Christmas crackers left over, so the "king" and "queen" can crack them open and wear the crowns.
**This is the day that I place my wise men (three kings) in my nativity set - I place the baby Jesus in on Christmas day.
**One of my family members usually plays Christmas tunes on our piano, and we round off the Christmas season singing carols by the fire.
**I am sending each of my guest home with a small cloth drawstring bag (very easy to make) containing a gold coin ($1 Sacagawea coin) and a cone of incense that contains frankincense and myrrh.

We find it a peaceful and relaxing way to top-off the Christmas season.

Gidget-
 

LadyEvenstar

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Oct 13, 2007
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That sounds fantastic! You've certainly thought of everything. I'd love to do something like that sometime.

Last year we did have a 12th Night Party but only beacuase our regularly scheduled Christmas Party had to be called off due to a snow storm. I wanted to incorporate some great traditional things like you mention above but didn't really have time to plan it on the fly.

Hope yours goes great!
 

AnnieClaus

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Nov 6, 2007
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LOVE IT!

I usually do a little rememberance of Christmas past and take down any remaining Christmas decor.

In the future, I would like to host the family for some split pea soup made from the Christmas or New Year's ham bone. And maybe do some kind of ceremony or tradition signifying the end of the Christmas season.

Really LOVE your ideas, Gidget!

Annie
 

luludou

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Dec 28, 2007
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Seems like lots of fun. and thinking of the birds is so nice!
 

Kim Loves Snow

Santa's Elves
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Aug 3, 2008
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Gidget - What a great experience you are creating for your guests. That celebration has never been a part of my past but perhaps it could be for the future. Thanks for providing all the details, too. I always love reading your posts.
 

AnnieClaus

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Nov 6, 2007
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Southern Arizona
I was really thinking about this thread last night and I REALLY want to incorporate it into my Christmas celebration- small this year, bigger next year.

BTW- Gidget~ I really miss you posting to the daily Kitchen thread of what we have for dinner. I always looked forward to reading what you had planned in Boston! I hope you will return to posting in that thread more regularly in 2011. Don't feel pressured- I just really looked forward to reading about your meals. :)