We'll wear our new clothes, redeem gift certificates, and cash the checks. Often, we hustle to prepare, dash through the Holy Day, then settle right back into old ruts. Already, some have taken down trees, packed ornaments, and settled into familiar habits. Come the New Year, most of the decorations will be gone. All that will remain are credit card statements.
Clues come in some of our carols and in the traditional Christian calendar.
In the Church Year, Christmas doesn't start until after sundown on the twenty-fourth of December. This Sunday is only the fifth day of Christmas. The festival continues through the fifth of January, the Eve of Epiphany, when the coming of the Wise Men signals the end of the Christmas season. The days of Christmas encourage special giving. We've received not only the gift of the Christ, but also much worldly loot.