Merry “After-Christmas”
by Father Lawrence S. Brey
 
     If you ever say “MERRY CHRISTMAS” a day or a week after Christmas, many will think you are strange, that you should rather be saying “HAPPY NEW YEAR.” But, my friend, “Merry Christmas” (or better, “Happy Christmas”) would be perfectly correct: not only on the day after Christmas, but even during the weeks after Christmas.
 
     There is a Christian song which includes the line “Why does Christmas last only one day?” The fact is, Christmas lasts quite a bit longer than just one day. The CHRISTMAS SEASON indeed BEGINS with Christmas Day (or rather Christmas Eve), and last well into January and early February. Many mistakenly think that it begins in Advent and ends at the stroke of  midnight  on December 25th!
 
     First of all there’s “CHRISTMAS WEEK”- the seven days within the Octave of Christmas, and leading up to the octave day, January 1st. It is a week-long holiday (or holy day), a week-long Christmas. Then there are the “TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS,” even longer than a week: 12 days of Christmas festivity commemorating special saints and feast and traditional customs. Hardly anyone hasn’t heard the popular carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” These 12 days of Christmas are;
 
December 26th - Saint Stephen’s Day (the first martyr for the Infant King)
December 27th -  Saint John  the Evangelist & Apostle
December 28th - Holy Innocents Day (the baby boy martyrs slain by Herod)
December 29th - Saint Thomas of Canterbury (murdered in his cathedral at Christmas time)
December 30th – Within Christmas Octave
December 31st – Saint Sylvester & New Year’s Eve
January 1st – Feast of the Circuмcision & Octave of Christmas (New Years Day)
January 2nd –Holy Name of Jesus (or Sunday after January 1st) , Octave of  Saint John
January 3rd – Octave of  Saint John
January 4th – Octave of the Holy Innocents
January 5th - Octave of Saint Thomas of Canterbury and vigil of Epiphany
January 6th – The solemn feast of the EPIPHANY or Three Kings Day
 
     Then there is the even more extensive liturgical season of “CHRISTMASTIDE,” from Christmas Eve through January 13th, the Octave of Epiphany. This season highlights January 1st, the Circuмcision and octave of Christmas, and January 6, the solemn feast of EPIPHANY, as well as the feasts of the Holy Name and Holy Family. Even a later period, the “Time after Epiphany” (from the Epiphany Octave to Septuagesima Sunday), yet contains echoes and twilights glimpse of the Christmas theme, though it is a transition period leading up to the prelude to Lent.
 
     SO YOU SEE, it is perfectly normal to say “Merry Christmas” and play Christmas music even after Christmas day. For Christmas truly lasts for much more than one day. And rightly so, for it is the Birthday of the King of Kings.
 
    AND NOW, HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS for living the spirit of Christmas during the weeks after Christmas Day:
 
1. Surprise someone, and say “MERRY CHRISTMAS” on the day after Christmas and even a week or more later.
 
2. Suppress the urge to say “Happy New Year” on the day after Christmas. That can wait until January 1st, or at least December 31st.
 
3. Don’t rush to exchange unwanted gifts on the day after Christmas.
 
4. Sing Christmas carols during the post-Christmas weeks, and encourage radio stations to play them.
 
5. Perform some special “errands of mercy” those days after Christmas, such as visiting the sick, sharing your surplus Christmas “goodies” with some needy family or old folks.
 
6. Keep your Christmas tree up for a while yet; it’s a sign of the Living Christ, the Light of the World.
 
7. Observe the Twelve Days of Christmas in some special way; read the lives of the saints honored on those days; develop some family traditions for those days.
 
8. On the Octave of Christmas, January 1st re-live the spirit of Christmas day; and make a PRACTICAL New Year’s Resolution that you’ll KEEP.
 
9. Don’t be ashamed to send out Christmas cards even AFTER Christmas; it’s perfectly in order; and don’t feel hurt if you get a Christmas card after Christmas.
 
10. Observe EPIPHANY day (January 6th) in a special way. It’s also a day for gift-giving, after the example of the Three Kings. On this day, insert figures of the Three Kings into your Nativity display (By the way, keep your crib and Nativity scene up during the weeks after Christmas).
 
11. Encourage institutions and merchants to retain their nativity scenes and Christmas decorations for a reasonable time after Christmas (before rushing into the Valentine day decorations)!
 
12. Read the Christmas narrative in the Gospels; also read and think  about Christ’s Holy Name (are you honoring it?) and Holy Family (is your family imitating it?), and His humble Childhood and Hidden Life at  Nazareth .
 
13. AND MAYBE YOU can think of even more ways to keep Christmas in your lives and hearts not only during that holy season, but, in spirit, throughout the year.
 

Good post. Anyone who thinks you are strange for saying "Merry Christmas" after Christmas Day is over but during the Epiphany is obviously not Catholic.

Well I would not say they are "not Catholic".. .maybe some Catholics are just uneducated about the matter, and are also swayed by common practice in society.

That's why Fr Brey aouthored the piece -- to enlighten them.

 :cheers:

Have yourself a Merry "Little Christmas"
rorate-caeli.blogspot.com



On my way home from Mass on St. Stephen's Day, I passed by a supermarket where I could see a clerk hurriedly taking down red and green regalia from some front end tables in order to make room for a liquor display in anticipation of the following week's High Holy Day of Chronolotry. It was an annual reminder that whatever the "holiday" is that the secular world celebrates every year at this time, had once again come to a screeching halt just as Catholics were beginning to celebrate Christmas. Sadly this phenomenon has rubbed off on some younger or poorly formed Catholics (I know; those are often mutually inclusive) who unwittingly deprive themselves of the ongoing merriment of Christmastide because society has conditioned them to do so.


When I was very young, the BVM nuns who taught us would sometimes refer to the Feast of Epiphany as "Little Christmas". It was explained to us that, next to the Nativity itself, this was the most important event surrounding the birth of Christ. While shepherds were the first to pay homage to the newborn King at the invitation of angels, the Magi were the first men to come of their own accord to adore a King of whom they knew nothing about. Prestigious men. Foreign men of knowledge and considerable wealth who travelled a great distance without really knowing what to expect. It was the first sign of humanity being aware that things were about to change. Thus, "Little Christmas" is rightfully the other bookend of the "twelve days" we spend celebrating this season and, in this era perhaps more than any other, it should be given full recognition by the Faithful. Here follows a few ideas I propose to those who’d like to share the joy of the season with those who are ignorant of it.

Say "Merry Christmas" throughout the season - This will certainly provoke commentary, particularly when offered during the early days of the new year giving you a perfect opportunity to explain to your inquisitors a few things about the liturgical calendar.

Make some time to go to Mass - The feast days within the Octave of Christmas are of significance to the season (St. Stephen, protomartyr, St. John the Apostle...certainly The Holy Innocents) and attending Mass on at least some of these days is a way of keeping the season holy.

Exchange gifts at Epiphany rather than on Christmas Day - This will be sure to get some attention. Imagine this: Catholics far and wide avoid shopping malls and department stores with all the attendant insanity and ill will that abounds in such places during the designated "shopping season". When December 25th has come and gone, the Catholic population can take advantage of post "holiday" sales and pay a fraction of the price for things that others were standing in long lines to pay top dollar for just a few days prior - even the wrapping. Sure, some of the "hot items" may be gone, but what better way to take attention off the desires of mankind and focus them on the event mankind is celebrating? The world will no doubt ask "Why are Catholics exchanging gifts on January 6th while the rest of us have turned our thoughts toward profane things concerning Valentines Day?" (a subject for another day). At that point we can just tell them that we're commemorating man’s first gifts to God’s gift to man.

Music, caroling - Sure enough, all of those radio stations that were eager to get your attention with non-stop Christmas music starting three days before Halloween suddenly pulled the plug at midnight on December 25th and returned to more musically significant features like "Sabbath Day Black Sabbath" or "Madonna-rama Monday". Fortunately modern day electronics allows you to enjoy your favorite carols and hymns throughout Christmastide simply by popping CDs into the player when friends come to visit. You can do the same in your car and, depending on circuмstances, maybe even your workplace. If you're a singer, why not schedule a couple of more caroling engagements with your choral group. The shopping malls and hotels may not want you anymore, but I don't think the retirement homes or hospitals will be quick to turn you down.

The Feast of Epiphany - If possible, take off of work or school on January 6th. Many companies allow their employees to take several paid "personal holidays" every year. Use the time to help swell attendance at Mass and then go do something festive with family or friends. If your employer or anyone else asks, tell them that you're observing a Holy Day. If enough of the Faithful did this, it could someday result in businesses being forced to scale back activity every year in deference to a Catholic feast day.


Epiphany water and chalk - If he doesn't already do so, ask your priest to honor the custom of blessing water and chalk on the eve of Epiphany or at Mass on the day itself. The water can be used to bless the rooms of your home and the chalk to make the traditional inscription above your doorway. Long after the Crèche is put away and the Christmas tree is gone, the yearly insignia of the Magi will still greet you and everyone who enters your home.

There you have it - some suggestions for keeping the fullness of the season. Undoubtedly you have a few you your own that you keep within your family or your parish and I invite you to share them with us. And I wish everyone a Merry Little Christmas.