we three kings

It's the 12th & last day of Christmas according to the Western Christian calendar. The day the three kings, also known as the Magi from the Orient made their way to visit the babe in Bethlehem. 'We Three Kings' is one of my favourite hymns. The even known as the Epiphany comes with the task of taking down the tree, the nativity & any Christmas decor & stowing it away safely until next year.

Well, we don't have any Christmas decor to take down because we didn't put one up. We've never really been in Bermuda to celebrate Christmas (a total of two so far). While I would love to have a tree here, it takes an awful long time to collect the kind of ornaments I would like on the tree & I am not about to blow a huge budget on ornaments. And while I did say that I didn't have to take down any Christmas decor, my parents in Toronto will have to. That's because I did put up the tree & the nativity set over there. (Well, they wanted me to & I could hardly say no!).

But I loved doing it. Most of the ornaments are handmade by yours truly. During our first year in Canada were a bit wary of buying a plethora of ornaments, so I collected a bunch of pine cones & spray painted them gold. Those ornaments adorn our tree to this day. Add to that the ornaments we've collected over the years. It's a simple theme that has carried us well through the past 10 years.

This season, my dad has promised to take down the tree & the nativity set with the greatest of care, since I'm not there to do it. I just hope he packs them away the right way in the right wrappers in the right boxes. The worst thing about the tree is all those lights. I prefer to string every branch with lights & it's definitely tedious (easier to take down than put up, however). So my advice to anyone considering a tree is get one that's pre-lit. 80% of your work is done for you right there & all you're left with is prettying in up.

For some of Bermuda's Christmas pictures, please check out the Bda Sun Album.