“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11
The first year we were married, we heard about the German tradition of decorating the Christmas tree on Christmas eve. I was working in retail, and found the barrage of Christmas consumption wearing– by the time Christmas actually arrived, I’d been “living” Christmas at work since October. Slowing the celebration at home seemed like a good idea. We would begin our personal Christmas celebrations on the first day of Christmas, and continue to celebrate though the traditional 12 Days. The frenzied Christmas season might be over by the end of December 25th, ours was just beginning. We adopted this tradition, though it wasn’t always easy– there are very few fresh trees still for sale the day before Christmas. Many people are “over’ Christmas almost as soon as the day arrives, and we often found we were the only ones still in the Christmas mood during those 12 days. It has been worth it, though– Christmas day, for us, isn’t followed by a letdown. It’s followed by a deliberate focus on the joy of the season, an opportunity to savor various family traditions that the hubbub of the pre-Christmas rush has shoved aside. And when we take down the tree on Epiphany, we feel neither relieved nor disappointed to see it go; its time has come and gone, and we’ve been present during its season.
We’ve continued to seek out new celebrations each year; with small, eager children in the house now, the tradition of saving the tree for Christmas eve hasn’t quite survived, but many new traditions have been born. We eat lamb on Holy Thursday, and hot cross buns and “kibet el rahib,” or “monk’s soup,” on Good Friday. The Magi leave presents on Twelfth night, during our annual party. Gingerbread houses are constructed not only during Christmastide, but at Halloween and any other holiday that appeals to us. Sometimes we make them in the middle of summer!
I mention all these things, because they are the events that have led to this blog. Time rushes by in great leaps and bounds; the daily events of our lives– especially with children– shuffle us hurriedly onward. This has bred in our family a desire to fully connect with our seasons and celebrations– especially those that are part of our faith– as they pass.
Our faith as Catholics has provided us with a good foundation for this: already our year is ordered by the Liturgical Calendar. Advent, Christmastide, Lent, Eastertide, and Ordinary Time form a year. Feast days and Holy days speckle the year. Traditions for celebrating these seasons date back many hundreds of years. There is a beautiful foundation here for a life lived in contemplation, preparation, and celebration, and these liturgical celebrations center our lives and deepen our faith. However, marking Liturgical seasons is by no means restricted to any one religious group or belief system– or even any religion at all. We invite you to find the joy and meaning in all seasons, whether festive or “ordinary.”
In Due Season 