Candlemas 2025

 Sunday, February 2, 2025

Started the day with church.

Today is Candlemas also known as the Feast of the Presentation.

Brunch after church. I decided to celebrate the end of the Christmas season with an Old Fashioned. 

I suppose I should start putting away the last remaining Christmas tchotchkes.

Candlemas 2024

 Friday, November 2, 2024

Dale and I in Arizona over Candlemas.

Lots Going On Today

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

It's 2-2-22. There's a lot going on today. Candlemas...

Feast of the Presentation...

Groundhog Day. Word is there's 6 more weeks of winter. 

Laid back evening. Salmon open face  and leftover gingerbread cake. 

Candlemas 2021

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

I worked from the school building yesterday and today for the first time this school year. Dale picked me up from work at 4:00. We had a relaxing afternoon and a quiet and lovely evening. 

Leftover tater tot hot dish for dinner and leftover gingerbread cake for dessert. 

Such a wonderful way to end the Christmas season with Dale and Athena.

Candlemas Eve

Monday, February 1, 2021

Today is Imbolc and also St. Brigid's Day. This morning my friend Zara wrote on Facebook: "It's the first day of Spring in the Celtic calendar: St. Brigid's Day, Imbolc! Brigid was a bishop of the  church and abbess of one of the largest monasteries   (men and women) in Europe."

Tomorrow is Candlemas. Some Christians follow the tradition of having Christmas decorations taken down by on on Epiphany, January 6th. Others take theirs down by or on Candlemas, February 2nd. Still, others believe that if you take most of yours down by Epiphany but still have some out, they should remain up until Candlemas and then taken down to avoid any bad luck. I left a few Christmas items out after Epiphany just for the fun of it and plan to have them down tomorrow. Not so much to avoid bad luck as that it's simply time. 

Ceremony Upon Candlemas Eve

Down with the Rosemary, and so

Down with the Baies and, mistletoe;

Down with the Holly, Ivie, all,

Wherewith ye drest the Christmas Hall:

That so the superstitious find

No one least Branch there left behind:

For look, how many leaves there be

Neglected there, maids, trust to me,

So many Goblins you shall see.

                       -Robert Herrick

Candlemas 2020

Saturday, February 2, 2020

Today is Candlemas which is when many Christians, at least historically, brought candles to be used for the year to church to be blessed. It is also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ which commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the temple. While many Christian traditions take down Christmas decorations on Epiphany, other wait until Candlemas. For many people, Candlemas marks the end of Christmas. Oh, and there's also that groundhog thing today too.

The sun's been up most of the day today. In the above picture, which I took this morning on the way to the gym, you can see it reflecting off a downtown building. I can't get enough of it as we've been deprived for quite a while now. 

It's not only sunny but unseasonably warm right now. 

Due to the sunny weather I listened to the above song a few times today.

I never really got my gingerbread jones satisfied this holiday season so I picked up some mini ginger cookies while Dale and I were at Kowalski's today. They were quite tasty and really hit the spot. 

We had a simple dinner of burritos tonight along with Dove ice cream bars for dessert. It was a low key day and it's time to say goodbye to the Christmas season. However, there are still weeks of winter to enjoy. Until next time...

MLK Weekend 2020 - Old Twelfth Night

Friday, January 17, 2019

Dale came home around noon and the snow started in at 1:30 p.m. 

Did some reading today in Nigel Slater's book, The Christmas Chronicles. He writes, "Those sad souls who fail to appreciate the cold months might feel better when they remember that the winter solstice was once the time of much making merry. The festivities lasted from harvest until Candlemas. Drunkenness, debauchery and feasting were the rules of the day. A far better idea than sitting around moaning about the cold and rain." (p.433)

There's no debauchery going on around here and certainly no drinking due to our dry January. However, according to Slater, today, the 17th, was Old Twelfth Night.

According to Wikipedia, "In some places, particularly southwest England, Old Twelfth Night is still celebrated on 17 January. This continues the  custom of the Apple Wassail on the date that corresponded with 6 January on the Julian calendar at the time of the change in calendars enacted by the Calendar Act of 1750."

Candlemas 2019

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Was really hoping for some gingerbread to close out the season. Couldn't find cookies in the bakery at the grocery store. Dale and I settled for some oh oh cake from Kowalski's.

Post Christmas Season 2017/2018 - Christmas Carol

Saturday, December 13, 2018

I had the opportunity today to visit with a former colleague who's dying of cancer. I began teaching with Carol M. almost 30 years ago. She was a veteran teacher who acted as a mentor for me for the nine years I was at the school where we taught together. Another former colleague emailed me to let me know she was going in for tests at the Mayo Clinic in late November. Carol had cancer once before shortly after I was done teaching at the school where we taught together. I believe I visited her once or twice after she recovered. Another former colleague emailed me to let me know that cancer had returned and that she was going in for tests at the Mayo Clinic in late November.  They were going to try to determine what kind of cancer. It turns out it's a very rare kind that has been recorded in American adults only 8 times before. Slightly more common in children, it usually appears in their arms or legs and can be easily removed. Unfortunately for Carol what they found was near her eye and had already spread to her brain and is moving down her neck. 

I visited her today with about 5 other former colleagues. It was wonderful to see everyone and I can't believe how natural it felt to be together after 20 years. Carol is doing incredibly well and is sustained by her strong faith. Her acceptance and bravery reminds me of my Dad's when he died almost 11 years ago. 

Carol and I taught in a school where Christmas could be recognized. It was always so much fun getting ready with the kids. Even though the time leading up to Christmas vacation was during Advent it was so meaningful to get ready with the kids doing Christmas/winter themed writing, projects, and decorating. We would decorate a tree in the classroom so on the last day of school before vacation many students would give me Christmas tree ornaments. I still have all of them to this day.

Carol told a few stories about Christmas on the farm where she grew up. The one I remember most is how her family's tree would go up on Christmas Eve and her mother would keep it up and the house decorated until Candlemas on February 2. The idea of leaving everything up until the beginning of February always intrigued me. I'd often remind Dale of Carol's family's tradition whenever he gets on me about leaving our house decorated into January. Although I always have 95% of it cleaned up before the end of the month, Carol's story always bought me a little extra time. 

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Twelfth Night Part 2

From Wikipedia:

"Twelfth Night is a festival, in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany. Different traditions mark the date of Twelfth Night on either 5th January or 6th January; the church of England, Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, celebrates Twelfth Night on the 5th and 'refers to the night before Epiphany, the day when the nativity story tells us that the three wise men visited the infant Jesus'. In Western Church traditions the Twelfth Night concludes the Twelve Days of Christmas, although in others the Twelfth Night can precede the Twelfth day. Bruce Forbes wrote that 'In 567 the Council of Tours proclaimed that the entire period between Christmas and Epiphany should be considered part of the celebration, creating what became known as the twelve days of Christmas, or what the English called Christmastide. On the last of the twelve days, called Twelfth Night, various cultures developed a wide range of additional special festivities. The variation extends even to the issue of how to count the days. If Christmas Day is the first of the twelve days, then Twelfth Night would be on January 5, the eve of Epiphany. If December 26, the day after Christmas, is the first day, then twelfth Night falls on January 6, the evening of Epiphany itself.'"

I say if there is all of this disagreement regarding when Twelfth Night falls, then why not just compromise and celebrate on both evenings!

Today at school, Gina brought a Kings' Cake that had five small Baby Jesus figures baked into it. Gina said that it is a Mexican tradition that if you find the Baby Jesus in your piece of cake you need to bring tamales to share on February 2. February 2nd is the Feast of Candlemas which refers to the presentation of Jesus in the temple. Gina who had shared the cake with a number of people already, said that she found the first Baby Jesus. I asked if that meant that she would bring tamales. She just laughed.

Today, I took down some more Christmas decorations, ate some gingerbread men and spritz cookies, and am having another shot of Jagermeister all while listening to Christmas music as I write this. A small celebration, but a celebration none-the-less. Thus concludes my second Twelfth Night.