The Twelve Days of Christmas

"On the First day of Christmas my true-love gave to me. . . "

(Check here for history of this song and its meaning)

We all know the song and have had it sung to us from shop speakers for weeks now with the false understanding that those 12 days are the days BEFORE Christmas

Nope!

On Christmas Day, when everyone else is tossing out the baby with the bathwater or “the Gift” with the wrapper, the Christmas Season has just begun.

The Church year begins with Advent, four Sundays before Christmas. The Advent Season, with its Advent Calendar, counts down the days to Christmas and has its own special readings and carols all retelling the story of first arrival of the Messiah, baby Jesus, and the second coming at “the end of the age”. Most of the Bible readings for this season focus on John the Baptist, who was the precursor, the one who pointed The Way. The Old Testament reading are the from the prophecies of the coming Messiah.
The true Christmas Season is just 12 short days starting with Christmas Day (or Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve) and runs through to Epiphany, January 6^th, which is the legendary day that the Wise Men or Magi arrived to bring gifts for the Christ-Child. The gifts of the Magi have special meaning: Gold – earthly wealth, Frankincense – spiritual blessings, and Myrrh – foreshadowing the burial of the crucified Christ. By the way, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was written for a special celebration of Epiphany Eve, the twelfth night.
Anyway. . . .

Lorelei Eurto posed the question to her blog readers at the beginning of December, “Who would like to participate in a Twelve Days of Christmas gift swap?” I said YES and so did ten other crafty, creative folks. We made our little gifties and packed them up and shipped them off to each of the other participants. I must say it was so much fun getting a little package in the mail day after day, but it has been SO DIFFICULT not to peek inside to see what goodies were sent.

Actually, I am opening up Lorelei’s gift today because I will be traveling on Day One, but I won’t post about that until tomorrow.

Some of the other participant will be blogging about this exchange, some won’t. But below is the list of participants so you can check out their craftiness. Oh, and I will be collecting comments on this blog post for a giveaway on Twelfth Night.
My gift is for day number NINE, and some luck reader/commenter will win one just like my swap friends. Here is the list of participant and the day each of their gifts will be opened. Please join me in this lovely celebration and share the joy with my fellow swappers.

1. Lorelei Eurto http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

2. Jennifer Heynen http://jenniferjangles.blogspot.com/

3. Deborah Boschert http://DeborahsJournal.blogspot.com

4. Jodie Marshall Www.marshalljodie.blogspot.com

5. 5. Amy Freeland copperdiem.blogspot.com

6. Katie Nelson www.etsy.com/shop/katienelson

7. Amanda Cargill Austin www.seashoreglassgirl.com

8. Rachel Stanley www.2catchahummingbird.blogspot.com

9. Me - Emanda Johnson www.ArtemisiaStudio.blogspot.com

10. Melissa http://halfawakedreaming.blogspot.com

11. Charlie http://clay-space.com

12. Lori Burek www.aquajunkoartworks.com

Have a blessed Christmas Season and a prosperous New Year!