Epiphany Gifts

Our Epiphany celebration this year was somewhat muted, when contrasted with my ambitions. I pictured a ceremonious procession of the three wise men figurines over to the Nativity scene on the fireplace mantel, followed by three small gifts for each child, wrapped in gold and silver paper.
The afternoon would be spent creating King Cake, inside of which would be hidden a special prize. We would make this part of our leisurely evening meal, and talk about the story of the first Epiphany.

The day did not turn out as I anticipated, but it was a great day, nonetheless.

We attended morning Mass as a family, and the Mass intention was for my uncle, who is still in the hospital recovering from a stroke that occurred the week prior to Christmas. After Mass, we went to a small Vietnamese restaurant for a Pho brunch. This was at about 10:30am, and we were the only people in the building, aside from the woman who served us, who I believe was also the owner.

Dadoo finally went to work around midday, and the children played while I caught up on laundry and post-weekend house cleaning.

Around mid-afternoon, some gorgeous knit gifts arrived for the children, homemade by my mother. Everything fits perfectly, and the kids were so excited.

Little Miss has barely taken off her watermelon hat and mittens–the hat is only removed to change clothing or take a bath, and the mittens are on her hands as long as she’s not eating.
Tiern has pronounced that his sweater is his super-suit for the persona, Superman-Phobia.
“It’s red, so it matches my cape.”
Dood-Locka is trying to lose his duck feet, but Little Miss has been determined to find them and replace them on his feet as many times as necessary.

No other gifts were given, and none were necessary.

Although Dadoo did not arrive at work until 1pm, he still put in a full eight hours. So we ate a very late, very brief dinner (without king cake). We made our steak-fried-rice taste celebratory with some champagne over pomegranate seeds, and then leftover New Year’s Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake for dessert.

At some point during the meal, I looked up and noticed that the three kings and their dromedary (as Tiern correctly calls the camel) had made it to the stable.
“When did you guys move the three kings?” I asked.
“Oh, a few days ago,” Dadoo answered. “Tiern was getting a little impatient.”
And that was the extent of our Epiphany discussion.

So there it was.

An early arrival. A holy prayer. Three surprise gifts. A quiet, but memorable, celebration.

Perhaps more in keeping with the day than I could have planned.