Most Christians around the world know today is Epiphany; the day observed in commemoration of the coming of the Magi, the three wise men who followed the Star of Bethlehem to find the baby Jesus. It is the revelation of the Incarnation of the infant Christ. In more general terms, to have an “epiphany” means to have a sudden realization. Just as I did when I was a child, I prayed and prayed for a White Christmas. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I can only recall less than a handful of times in my entire life when we got snow on Christmas day in Dallas. Last night I explained to my little one that tonight would be the last time we could enjoy the tree and our lit Nativity scene outside. “But why Mama?” she asked with her soulful brown eyes. I explained that this was the last day of Christmas. Then I joked she’d better be glad we weren’t Baptist or some other denomination who pitches their tree the very next day. (She looked truly horrified.) My Methodist parents sort of split it down the middle and kept our tree up until the first day of the New Year. But our family, as Episcopalians and members of the worldwide Anglican communion, celebrates until Epiphany; just as many Catholics, and Eastern and Greek Orthodox do as well. I wrote last year of having an epiphany on Epiphany. And I was blessed to discover another today. All this time my little one had been praying for snow on Christmas. Today, out of the blue, it dropped down to 22* and by the time I went to pick her up from school a thin blanket of white had covered our little part of the world. “MAMA IT’S SNOWING! IT’S SNOWING!” she shrieked with delight. “God made it snow, you know” she said with her great, somber brown eyes. “Yes He did,” I acknowledged. “Can we go out and play in it when we get home?!” “Can we?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow. “May we please go out and play in it when we get home?” she amended and I said, “Sure!” So we went outside and I took this “usie,” something I do not tend to do. She giggled and said, “A SELFIE!” sounding more like 15 than 5. “To remember,” I said. “Mama you look great as a wolf!” “And you look great as a kitty cat!” I told her. And so the wolf and the kitty played in the snow until their hands got cold and they went in to warm themselves by the fire. The American journalist Susan Orlean said, “A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.” Which brings me around to the realization that as my daughter prayed and prayed for Christmas snow she did indeed receive it. Today is the twelfth day of Christmas; this year’s epiphany.
