After Santa’s Come and Gone: 6 Ways to Celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas

Historically, each of the 12 days often included feasts, religious observances, and celebrations in various Christian communities.Biba Kayewich

Different times, different customs.

A case in point: From England’s Middle Ages until the reign of the Tudors, Advent meant four weeks of fasting and preparation. With the arrival of Christmas Day came the 12 Days of Christmas, nearly two weeks of revelry and feasts, ending only on Epiphany in January, that day set aside to remember the wise men who stood ‘round a manger in Bethlehem.

While some Christian denominations still follow this ancient pattern of celebration, our culture generally ignores both Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas. Holiday parties crash to a halt after Dec. 25. Our homes and streets are decorated, often right after Thanksgiving, and those same glittering lights and glass ornaments begin disappearing shortly after Christmas. The carols and holiday songs on the radio vanish in late December. On New Year’s Day, which is right in the middle of what was once a confection of banquets and revels, many of us resolve to shrink our waistlines, fasting rather than feasting. This sea change in holiday tradition goes so deep that some people think the 12 Days refer to the time before Christmas.

Yet the 12 Days of Christmas are still on the books, so to speak, and offer us some special opportunities and pleasures if we wish to take advantage of them.

Keep on Partying

If you didn’t get your fill of Christmas festivities, stand up and cheer. The 12 Days allow you nearly two more weeks to satisfy that appetite. And here’s more good news: You’ll have little competition for these get-togethers. With the exception of New Year’s Eve, the mood for late December and early January is naptime calm. It’s perfect for inviting friends over for supper or meeting them for drinks.

And remember, since it’s still Christmas, that those cards you failed to send aren’t late. Just add a “Happy 12 Days of Christmas!” to your note and all is well.

Bring on Those 8 Maids A-Milking

Historically, each of the 12 days often included feasts, religious observances, and celebrations in various Christian communities.Biba Kayewich

Want to surprise your beloved? Adopt the theme of “The 12 Days of Christmas” carol as your own and give that special person in your life a gift every day for 12 days. Most of us can’t afford the presents mentioned in the song—milkmaids, dancing ladies, and lords a-leaping don’t come cheap these days—but we can bring treats to those who own our hearts.

In her online article “A Secret 12 Days of Christmas Gifts Surprise,” Canadian blogger Heather Lynne writes of a Christmas when she and her husband anonymously received a gift a day during the 12 Days, accompanied by a sweet poem. Instead of five golden rings, for example, their secret Santa gave them five doughnuts and this little verse: “On the fifth day of Christmas with things rather tight, it’s important to us that we all travel light. Gold rings are too heavy, (and not very yummy) so please be content with sweet rings in your tummy!”

These givers made the mistake of believing that the 12 Days fell before the holiday, but no matter. Try this treat-a-day approach, and watch for the gleam of delight in the eyes of the one who receives it.

Have Yourself a Literary Little Christmas

Pre-modern writers occasionally centered plays and poetry on the 12 Days. In that earlier time, a play or a masque, an amateur production of singing, dancing, and acting in which the performers wore masks, was often presented in a lord’s court on the 12th Night for the amusement of guests. So, if you have a yen for some Shakespeare, now’s the perfect time to read the Bard’s “Twelfth Night” or to watch director Trevor Nunn’s 1996 screen version of the play.

If you’re in more of a medieval mode, pick up a copy of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and experience the magic and mystery of that strange tale. It’s a Christmastide classic, a Marvel heroes sort of yarn in verse with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table encountering the Green Knight, whose superpowers include having his head chopped off and riding away with it tucked under his arm!

And with the arrival of Epiphany, you can sober up from these literary intoxications by reading T.S. Eliot’s “The Journey of the Magi,” with “the ways deep and the weather sharp, the very dead of winter.”

Join the Magi

Most of us don’t keep a supply of gold, frankincense, and myrrh tucked away, but we can emulate the wise men by bringing gifts to those in need. If you wish to follow their Christmastide example by honoring an infant child, drop off some diapers or baby clothes at your local pregnancy center or bring a platter of Christmas cookies to the staff and new parents at your hospital’s neonatal unit.

Some of our elderly citizens could use some Magi pilgrims as well. Ask anyone who works in a nursing home or assisted-living facility about the post-Christmas season, and you’ll find that many of those pre-holiday visitors—the carolers, the Scout troops—vanish quicker than St. Nick up the chimney once Dec. 25 has come and gone. Deliver some treats to the old and the infirm, and you’ll brighten up that gray winter nimbus of the post-holiday season.

Make Christmastide Your Advent

The 12 Days are the perfect time for some penitential dieting. Like those of an earlier era who fasted during Advent, we might consider cutting back on food and drink during Christmastide. In fact, our culture already encourages that practice with New Year’s resolutions, in which losing weight always ranks high on the pledges we make to ourselves.

And like Advent, the 12 Days are also ideal for reflection and meditation. Confined by the early darkness and the colder weather to our homes, and on the doorstep of a new year, we have the opportunity to entertain some long thoughts on the past, present, and future. Here, I suggest that when you begin unfolding these thoughts, you keep a supply of gratitude at hand. No matter our circumstances, there’s always something we can be thankful for. As Willie Nelson once said, “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”

Try Nelson’s approach and see what happens.

Honor Christmas in Your Heart

Regardless of our politics, race, or creed, there’s a spirit that can enter us during the holiday season. It’s the spirit of fellowship, of gifts and giving, of charity and kindness. If December planted the seed of that spirit in you, then the 12 Days of Christmas are the greenhouse in which we can tend to that seed and help it grow and blossom.

If we faithfully foster this spirit of the season, we may find ourselves aligned with Ebenezer Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol,” who, after his reformation, vows, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.’’

Have a Merry 12 Days of Christmas, everyone!