Beset by blackouts during the week around Christmas, and bedeviled by a balky boiler for three days at the New Year, I decided to celebrate Christmas on the Orthodox timetable as well as at the normal time for Anglicans, Romans, and Protestants. The Julian calendar puts Christmas on December 25th, while the Gregorian calendar observed by many Orthodox Christians has it a week later on January 7th (our Feast of the Epiphany). Thus, while I was leading the Epiphany service at Long Rapids on Sunday, Coptic Christians in Egypt were celebrating the Nativity.
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Tawadros II, Pope of the Coptic Christian Church, celebrates
Christmas at al-Abasseya Cathedral in Cairo on January 7th. |
My tree was blacked out for much of Christmas — indeed, it was not even decorated until Christmas Day! So I've decided to keep it glowing all this week. This weekend it will go into hiding in the basement, and wait for resurrection next winter.
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| The blue lights were for Advent. |
Today was lovely up here — clear skies, sun, and temperatures near 40 degrees. It's our January Thaw. The computer voice on weather radio says temperatures will remain above average for the next few days, but conditions will start to deteriorate tomorrow afternoon, with the wind picking up, snow showers possible on Thursday, gale force winds on Lake Michigan and through the Straits, and waves up to 14 feet on Lake Huron off Presque Isle Light. Winter is a season of contrasts. •••
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