When we had our marathon morning at church on Sunday, our priest gave us information on blessing our houses for the Feast of Epiphany. I am all for a good ritual, and this one sounded like something I wanted to do. I have heard of people 'smudging' their houses in the tradition of many First Nation cultures. I have never tried it though. Have you?
Like a lot of folks, we could use all the blessings, good feelings and wishes we can get. Yesterday after dinner, we blessed the house like so . . .
Helena didn't get the letters written like she wanted at first. This was actually our second try. Elijah was supposed to go first but got scared on Dad's shoulders. Helena then went, but couldn't get chalk to wall due to the same fears. Doran got the ball rolling.
Sorry for the blur. There was a whole lot of movement and excitement during the entire process.
Doran got the 'C' and 'M' initials of two of the Magi up. Helena wrote the 'B'.
Helena and Elijah decided they would write the year.
Eden is not one to be left out of the mix. I don't know why I am continually surprised by her desire to take part in everything. Perhaps it's because Doran was not very "involved" with the world in a typical way when he was her age. In addition, Helena and Elijah were mainly interested in each other. Eden is into everything. She only opts out of activities when she is asleep, and that is rather involuntary.
Who knew writing on the wall would cause such excitement?
Auggh, no jumping on the doggone couch! Like I said; there was a lot of excitement. This is one reason I like rituals and finding special meanings in little everyday moments-it just makes life more interesting and full.
After writing the blessing, Helena and Elijah got into a big discussion about stars- stars in general, the Christmas star, the Star of David, etc. They then asked for permission to draw a star blessing on a wall in each of their rooms. You know I almost said 'no'. Why? Because we don't draw on the walls with chalk- except we just had. I then remembered it's just chalk, and asked myself what was the harm really. It's interesting how reflexive saying no can be. Talk about a personal epiphany that I seem to keep having repeatedly. You're supposed to learn the first time right? Well maybe not.
Helena's star-deliberately smudged.
Elijah's star.
How about you? Have you had any epiphanies lately? Have you added rituals to your life or celebrations?
Have a wonderful weekend everyone! It looks like the snow dance worked and we are expecting more snow today-yay!
