When I was a kid the Christmas season began on Christmas Eve and ended on the Feast of the Epiphany. That would be January the 6th, or the nearest Sunday thereto. The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the Coming of the Wise Men, aka The Magi. We put up our tree on Christmas Eve, and set out the Nativity Scene as well, and took everything down two weeks later on the Epiphany.

The Gospels don’t specify where or when the Magi visited the Holy Infant. Matthew’s account mentions Herod, and his desire to find “the newborn king.” The Magi, it seems, were wise enough to get out of town after their visit to Bethlehem, leaving bloodthirsty Herod in the dark. There’s a ton of legend and history wrapped up in the story of the mysterious visitors from The East who followed a wandering star.

But now it’s January the 7th so that means all is done and the Holidays are over. I assume the Three Fellows got back to the Orient in one piece. In our case, we took down our meager Xmas effort:

Yep, I found this box of stuff at Mom’s. It’s the original family Nativity Scene. Except of course for the three pieces that don’t belong (see if you can pick them out). We’ll be farming those out to the the thrift shop. But the original pieces, Mary and Joseph and the manger, the angels, the shepherds and their animals, and the three Wise Men, are battered but still intact. St. Joseph originally had a shepherd’s staff, which is weird considering he was a carpenter, but no matter. I substituted the hideous pipe cleaner last year and this year I replaced it with a nicer-looking piece of wire. His head had to be glued back on after years in the box, but he recovered nicely.

I mentioned the thrift shop. I’m a big fan of thrift shops. They are great places for books and CDs. Yes, I still use CDs. The so-called “secondary market” is a great place for bargains. I once found a 100% wool suit (dark navy, chalk stripe, double-breasted, peak lapel) for ten bucks! It fit perfectly. Of course I look like a character from a pulp novel, but that comes in handy some of the time.

The US holiday spending binge of the last two months will top one trillion dollars for the first time ever. That’s a lot of stuff! There was plenty of help, too. Good Housekeeping, Forbes, Country Living, ad nauseum, had stuff-buying guides for the perplexed. The Magi brought the young Holy Family gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold makes a great gift, if you can afford it. But I’m not so sure about frankincense (Boswellia tree resin) and myrrh (Commiphora tree resin) these days.

We were lucky this holiday season to get a couple of great visits from friends. That’s the best gift of all.