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MiserereMei25
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Does anybody celebrate Christmas for the full 12 days? What are some of your traditions for the actual season of Christmas?
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Irishmom2
Guest
Our family always used it as a time to see family or friends we couldn’t see on the 25th. We leave our tree up until the Epiphany as well. Other than that, nothing else. I am interested to hear what others do though!
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DisorientingSneeze
Guest
December 26th- St. Stephen
Sing “Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen”
Do something nice for a deacon.
Send the kids out in the yard to look for rocks and then DON’T stone anyone to death with them.
Sing “Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen”
Do something nice for a deacon.
Send the kids out in the yard to look for rocks and then DON’T stone anyone to death with them.
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DisorientingSneeze
Guest
December 27th- St. John the Evangelist.
Drink some (not poisoned) wine!
Read Revelations.
Drink some (not poisoned) wine!
Read Revelations.
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Irishmom2
Guest
Ooh, I like wine! 
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DisorientingSneeze
Guest
I don’t have any family customs for the feast of the Holy Innocents, but there are some pretty odd customs out there to go with it.
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DisorientingSneeze
Guest
Mostly we just keep singing carols and keep moving our kings around the house as they haven’t arrived at the manger scene yet.
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CelticWarlord
Guest
We like to get our decorations, lights and tree up by the first weekend of December. A fabric advent calendar is hung from the outside of the linen cupboard in the upstairs hallway and it’s always a race to see who can place the current day in the little slot. My wife and daughter begin the baking of a large variety of Christmas cookies early in the month. The music of the season is played regularly on the CD player. Seasonal magazines collected over the years are brought out for browsing. Movies like Holiday Inn and White Christmas are viewed. I never get tired of them.
We have occasionally gone to a Christmas Eve service but the last one at our daughter-in-laws’ church really stank. I haven’t been to a Catholic Christmas Mass yet but feel one is on the horizon.
We have occasionally gone to a Christmas Eve service but the last one at our daughter-in-laws’ church really stank. I haven’t been to a Catholic Christmas Mass yet but feel one is on the horizon.
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MiserereMei25
Guest
Mulled wine for winter mmmmm
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UpUpAndAway
Guest
We prolong the use of our Advent wreath by removing the colored votive holders on Christmas Day, replacing them with white votive holders (clear frosted glass, actually) and burning tealights in those every evening through Epiphany. The tree stays up until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
When I was a kid, we rugrats would leave our shoes at the foot of the table the nativity set was on the evening of January 5th and the next morning there would be one or two small gifts inside, usually a tangerine and/or some kind of chocolate bar. The Husband and I don’t have children, so this tradition dies with me. (My elder sister is also childless.)
In this part of France, it’s customary to share a galette des Rois (“galette of the kings”) on the Feast of the Epiphany with at least one other person, though it’s more fun in a group of at least four. It’s a round, flat dessert made of flaky pastry encasing some filling, traditionally frangipane or applesauce but many alternatives exist. They aren’t difficult to make but much easier to buy
(In my defense, the bakery is a lot better at flaky pastry than I’ll ever be.) A small porcelain or metal figurine called a fève (literally “fava bean;” back in the day a dried fava bean was used until someone got the bright idea to use figurines instead) is hidden inside. The galette is sliced into however many portions needed to give each person a wedge, with the youngest child present sitting under the table and deciding who gets which piece as it’s cut from the galette. Whoever finds the fève is given a paper crown, gets to be king or queen for the day, and chooses his queen or her king from amongst the others present. 
Because there’s just the two of us, we simply hack off two servings per day until we’ve eaten the whole galette, regardless of when the fève is found.
25% of the country does the same thing with a gâteau des Rois (“cake of the kings”) instead. This is a ring-shaped sweet bread studded with candied fruit. It is nasty.
Probably the forerunner of the New Orleans king cake, the recipe has improved greatly in the hands of the bakers in that awesome city.
When I was a kid, we rugrats would leave our shoes at the foot of the table the nativity set was on the evening of January 5th and the next morning there would be one or two small gifts inside, usually a tangerine and/or some kind of chocolate bar. The Husband and I don’t have children, so this tradition dies with me. (My elder sister is also childless.)
In this part of France, it’s customary to share a galette des Rois (“galette of the kings”) on the Feast of the Epiphany with at least one other person, though it’s more fun in a group of at least four. It’s a round, flat dessert made of flaky pastry encasing some filling, traditionally frangipane or applesauce but many alternatives exist. They aren’t difficult to make but much easier to buy
(In my defense, the bakery is a lot better at flaky pastry than I’ll ever be.) A small porcelain or metal figurine called a fève (literally “fava bean;” back in the day a dried fava bean was used until someone got the bright idea to use figurines instead) is hidden inside. The galette is sliced into however many portions needed to give each person a wedge, with the youngest child present sitting under the table and deciding who gets which piece as it’s cut from the galette. Whoever finds the fève is given a paper crown, gets to be king or queen for the day, and chooses his queen or her king from amongst the others present. Because there’s just the two of us, we simply hack off two servings per day until we’ve eaten the whole galette, regardless of when the fève is found.
25% of the country does the same thing with a gâteau des Rois (“cake of the kings”) instead. This is a ring-shaped sweet bread studded with candied fruit. It is nasty.
Probably the forerunner of the New Orleans king cake, the recipe has improved greatly in the hands of the bakers in that awesome city.
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