Are There Only 12 Days of Christmas?

Who wouldn't want to
eat oatmeal with daleks and a
Christmas tree? ;)

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope that you all are having a glorious celebration of Christ's birth, and an awesome celebration of the feast of St. Thomas Becket. It's been pretty awesome over here-the roads were clear enough for me to drive to morning Mass at my epic parish, I prayed Liturgy of the Hours, and now I'm eating and blogging by the light of the Christmas tree. It's so heavenly! In the spirit of festive things, today, I'm linking up with Tuesday Talk to discuss Christmas. I love Christmas, and I really, really, really love how it isn't just one day. While stores are putting out their "after Christmas sales," Catholics keep the party going-and it's awesome. Yet, in all of this awesomeness, there is something that makes me a bit sad: many people miss out on a whole week of Christmas!


I'm sure most of you have heard the song "The 12 Days of Christmas." When I was younger, I thought that the 12 days running from December 26 to the traditional feast of the Epiphany on January 6 were the full length of the Christmas season. I continue to run into many Catholics who think this. After all, the Epiphany is a huge, climactic point at this time of year. So, I was shocked-and excited-to find out that Christmas is longer than only 12 days!!!!!!! PARTY!!!!! 

So how long is Christmas? When does the liturgical season of Christmas end for us Roman Catholics here in the good ol' U.S.A.? You can find the answers over at Ignitum Today (I'll give you a hint: It involves a locust-eating man, some water, and Jesus). 

Also, I want to give a small addendum-we are currently in the octave of Christmas. This means that for these 8 days-exploding in awesomeness on the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God-we intensely focus on the mystery of the Incarnation and on various fantastic saints. So party it up (in a temperate, wholesome way) for the whole Christmas season, but especially this week!