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Kirkus Reviews | Twelve Days of Christmas

December 27, 2013

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Merry Christmas everyone!

I’m confused: Why do people insist on putting the Twelve Days BEFORE Christmas instead of starting on the 25th of December? The twelve days start with the manger and end with presents from the wise men. I want to ask, don’t they read historical romances? Surely, we’d all know the right days if more people read historical romances.

Now to be honest, I had to look up Twelfth Night the first or second time I saw it in a novel, and yes, dear reader, that was before Wikipedia, so I used this thing called a dictionary. I know, I know, I age myself all the time, but I love my dictionary. It’s filled with all these interesting facts and a mini history of how words evolved and how they were used over time. But back to the subject: The Twelve Days of Christmas. In Europe and the countries to our south, Christmas Eve just kicks it all off. There should be celebrations and parties and good food, and they should start with Christmas. Not end on the 26th with after-Christmas sales. Really, there should be massive celebrations happening now through the sixth of January. But, sadly, it seems all the holiday parties are squeezed into early days of December and everything comes to crashing halt by the 1st of January. Seriously, our town schedules the holiday tree pickup for the 2nd of January!

Twelfth Night is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as “the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking.” We should take our holidays seriously by celebrating them on the right days of the year—and not forgetting the snacks! It’s only being respectful.

Read the rest on Kirkus Reviews

WHAT HAPPENS AT CHRISTMAS
WHAT HAPPENS AT CHRISTMAS

A CHRISTMAS BRIDE / CHRISTMAS BEAU
A CHRISTMAS BRIDE / CHRISTMAS BEAU

FIVE GOLD SMUGGLING RINGS
FIVE GOLD SMUGGLING RINGS

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