Why does Christmas “stop” on December 26?

Answer:

Francis Schaeffer once said something like "If the church is to be a witness to the world, it must lean against the wind".

Christmas in our house starts on the evening of December 24. After my FIL has pushed back from the pile of materialism he has showered on my children, the last wrapping having been torn off and the thank-yous made, he always says "Well, that was Christmas".

And then we go to midnight mass. We go to church Christmas morning, and open ONE each of the presents waiting under our own tree. We visit friends or carol or invite friends or neighbours to dinner. Repeat December 26, 27, 28, 29, and on until twelth night -- one present a day, unless visitors bring presents'; celebrating friendship; using the prayers and hymns for Christmas. One of those days, but never the 25th, we have our family-of-friends to dinner, as I've done every year for the last twenty! This year I got my own copies of "Miracle on 34th Street", "A Christmas Carol" and "It's A Wonderful Life" so that I can watch Christmas Specials during Christmas, when I have time for them, rather than before Christmas when I'm so busy; and of course I have a handful of Christmas music CD's. Thus I can turn off the TV or Radio and have the specials and carols on my schedule.

Even when I have to work during Christmas Octave -- I usually try to schedule vacation that week -- we still spend the evening celebrating Christmas. People think we're odd, but we keep on doing Christmas our way, and most of our friends have come to enjoy the extended celebration and rely on us to "lead the way".




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