Thursday, January 7, 2010

Artventurous Epiphany

It's a tremendous help to me that the pages of my winter journal were painted in advance. This makes it much easier for me to keep it up as half the work is already done.



I'm recycling several of my Christmas cards to use in this journal. This stain glass is part of a card I dissected for this spread. I love the colors and I wanted to make it work on this page. It worked!


The Epiphany is the day when the three kings found baby Jesus in the manger. Perfect card for this day's journal entry. Things are just coming together so easy for my pages. It has to be a sign that it was time for me to get back into my journaling mode.



We've always kept our Christmas tree and lights up until Jan. 7th, the day of the Epiphany. I know other families who also follow this practice but what I just learned this year is that there are also families who celebrate this day as Christmas. There are a few Egyptian and Ethiopian Christians at our school who follow this practice. I found it very interesting listening to several children share their traditions of this holiday with me today as they visited the library. They were very excited and looking forward to celebrating at home once school was over. One little boy with the longest eyelashes (I swear I saw the tips hitting his eyebrows!) had so much love in his heart as he told me about the wonderful dishes his mother would be making tonight. I can't believe it took me 54 years to learn about this. Where the heck have I been?

12 comments:

Lynn Cohen said...

Same place I've been for 68 and a half years...LOL Thanks for sharing!
You are inspiring me to try more journal making.
thanks for your sweet comments tonight too.
Don't eat too many tomales!
We had some store bought ones earlier this week!
Adios Amiga.

Stampmaiden said...

Lynn, no more tamales for me. I've had my fill and this time I mean it. LOL!!
Can't wait to see your journal evolve!
Linda

Lisa at Greenbow said...

It just goes to show you are never too old to learn something. You are lucky to be in an area that has such a diverse population. Your journal is gorgeous.

La Poeta said...

Linda, I cannot believe that you didn't ate the queso con rajas tamales! They are soooo good.
In Mexico the more humble people celebrate El Dia de los Reyes Santos, the 6th of January. The children get the toys that morning, and in the afternoon they have the Rosca de Reyes, and is like you wrote about the baby Jesus.
Now the people is loosing that celebration, because the influence of american xmas and commercial craziness has taken root over there, and around the world. Imagine how many great celebrations had been lost over the years!
It is good that you are journaling about this, and I really don't know how come you didn't know about it. Hey, do you know about Las Posadas???

La Poeta said...

Ay, manita, I have to tell this: Hispanic is someone from Spain not from Latinoamerica.

AND I like how you are recycling the xmas cards, you are sooo creative.

Bea said...

Love the journal pages. What a great use of Christmas cards. So much better than throwing them out. :)Bea

Stampmaiden said...

No kidding, Lisa. I heard the average person uses about 10% of his brain cells throughout his lifetime. So there's a lot of space in there waiting to be filled. May as well go for it!
Linda

Stampmaiden said...

Christina, I do know about Las Posadas. LOL!! In fact, I was invited to participate in one at a friend's place. She lives in an apartment building and everyone decorates with lights and it's so pretty at night. But they all take turns hosting their home for refreshments. Plus it's also done in our church community.
Does it really surprise you that I didn't know about the Christian Egyptians and Ethiopians celebrating The Epiphany as Christmas? LOL!! You must think I know everything. Not so my friend. LOL!!! But thanks!
Linda

BT said...

Well, Linda, I have only learnt all this in the last few days too and I'm much older!! Also some ladies have a 'ladies day' on the 6th January. They have done all the cooking and work over Christmas and it was to thank them. Halls used to be hired and big dances held where groups of women would come to have an evening to themselves. Sounds good to me!!

That little boy sounds a gem.

BT said...

Oh the journals are lovely! That card must have been fantastic. I'm terrible when Christmas cards arrive, I'll say 'oh, that'll make lovely cards/collage/ATC, etc.

Stampmaiden said...

Gina, what a great idea to honor women! LOL! So who does/did the cooking for the party? Not women I hope!
Linda

BT said...

Oh probably some women!! I've never been to one, so I wouldn't know! Maybe they hired male chefs.