WHAT WE DO.....WHAT THEY DO.....AS THE CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS CONTINUES...........

The latest I was in Ireland before the Christmas Season begins, is December 23, 1984, during my second year as a seminarian at St. Kieran's in Kilkenny.  That is a whole story in itself, I will share later this week.  But something that stands out in my mind about how the Irish families celebrate Christmas and we Americans do, is this :  we frontload it and put it away too quickly; they take the time to let Christmas arrive and families gather, not just for a day, but for several days, perhaps even a week, and continue the Christmas celebration each day.  They hold lunches and dinners, going to the pubs, and other entertainment venues, from movies to pantomines. They visit friends and neighbors, and share a glass or two of Christmas spirits.  The Christmas Season is more appropriately honored and bonds of affection renewed and strengthened, by having such a Christmas.  I was stunned this morning to hear even the venerable tv host Regis Philbin, an Irish-Italian American Catholic, proud of his Catholic heritage say, "(Now) we are through with Christmas and look forward to New Year's".  Then I learned this afternoon that Sutter General Medical Center, I commended a few days ago for their living Pine Christmas Tribute Trees, began taking them down, removing the lights and decorations this morning, leaving the soon to be departing trees looking naked.  This is what our American secularist, work a day world, has created.  I am grateful not to have seen any sign of dicarded Christmas trees in Del Paso Heights today.  Perhaps the poor and struggling have a deeper appreciation for keeping the
Christmas Season alive longer.  I hope wherever you are, in the USA, or any other country of the World, - that you are celebrating what this year for us who are Catholic-Christians, the 16 and 1/3 Days of Christmas, from now to the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  For us in the Roman Rite that is thirteen more days to savor and share in a spirited and festive way..........Happy Third Day Of Christmas,   Fr.  Troy