Epiphany, further revealed

For the last few years when we've celebrated Epiphany, we've had family members in from out of town to participate with us. But this year, having no company in the house, we decided to celebrate with our good friends, the Cole Clan. In typical Howard-Cole-fashion, he jumped right into his inaugural Epiphany celebration with both feet, and learned all kinds of cool things to share with us that we had never known about! He told us all about Ignatius writing 100 years after Christ about the magi, giving them names and descriptions, and about some interesting traditions that the Church has followed for centuries concerning this holiday.

Steve and Paige also contributed to the merriment by creating some fun games for the kids.... Steve led each child through a very dark house with his flashlight, as they "followed the star" to find a treasure. And Paige put together a collection of mysterious items in a large sock of Howard's (which we all hoped was washed!) that we had to take turns trying to decipher by feeling. Then later the treasures were "revealed" in the spirit of an epiphany and the most discerning and observant among us won. :) Howard had us all compete in tongue twister contest with some sort of convoluted statement involving a star and sages... the Coles dominated in that game!

Then we all participated in a new tradition that I can't wait to do again next year: chalking the house. This is something people have done for centuries and centuries and has several layers of meaning to it... the primary idea being that we ask God to bless the house, and use the inhabitants to bless any visitors this year.

And, finally, we broke into the traditional (at least in our house) Treasure Box Cake.... although finding the toothpick hidden in it was somewhat anticlimactic since it fell out during the cutting. But Alleyn, the winner-designate, still led us in a rousing rendition of "We 3 Kings."

We love having these holidays -- not only to continue building family traditions -- but also to have more opportunities to celebrate with good friends! Thanks, H, A, T, S, P, C and S for making it such a fun evening for us!