Happy Epiphany, dear friends. As we bid farewell to Christmas for another year, we welcome the season of light. Last night was the official Twelfth Night - a time for merrymaking, singing Christmas Carols, chalking the door, attending church services and having one’s house blessed. It passed in our house this year without any of the usual trappings. Our church is being especially cautious during what has become the most dramatic wave of the pandemic. The numbers of infected are high and the numbers of new cases are setting records nearly every day. The hospitals and health care institutions are overwhelmed. Supplies of testing materials are in limited supply and the county health department’s testing site is operating on reduced hours because of bad roads and short staff.

Across the street from our house is another couple who are experiencing their first winter in their new home. They moved here from Gillette, Wyoming. Like us, they moved to be closer to children and grandchildren. Like us they left their snowblower back in their former home. Unlike us, they are younger and both working. He works shifts, which means that he often works overnight. She works for a local propane distributor that has been very busy during the recent cold weather and needs all of their employees to be working. Between the two of them, they have been keeping their driveway shoveled, so our two houses stand out in a neighborhood of folks who are waiting for the next rainfall to wash away the snow on the ground. We have already had a couple of conversations about the lack of winter driving skills among the locals.

Last evening before supper, I ran into a nearby town for an errand. On the short trip, I saw five vehicles in the ditch. I followed one driver for a while who was terrified by the conditions and unable to go more than about 15 miles per hour. Fortunately they turned off of the street and I had the road to myself for a while. There was ribbon ice on the road and 35 to 40 mph was a safe speed. We have good tires and all wheel drive on our car, so I was having no trouble on my errand. At one place, where a car had slid into the ditch, a tow truck operator was making quick work of helping the driver to get back on the pavement. A local sheriff’s deputy, who might have been sleeping or at least not paying attention on the day they taught about directing traffic at night, was trying to direct cars around the working tow truck. He couldn’t seem to figure out how to wave his flashlight to get the cars to do what he wanted. He kept standing in front of vehicles to get them to stop so the other lane could pass the accident for a while. I worried for his safety. That body armor wouldn’t be sufficient to protect him from a car or truck driven by a nervous person who couldn’t handle a bit of ice on the road. When I returned a few minutes later, he was gone, so I hope his night got a bit better after that.

Our grandchildren had no school yesterday and school for today has already been cancelled. Their mother works at her office on Thursdays while they are at school, so we are the backup for care for the children when there is no school. We’ll probably have them at our house so that their mother can see clients remotely without being interrupted. They can have lunch and snacks with us. Maybe we’ll have a little house blessing with them and their parents around time for them to head back to their house. We’re unsure.

We had planned to have an outside bonfire at their home to celebrate 12th night, but the plan had been to have it on Friday, which isn’t a school night. However, it seems possible that the kids won’t have school tomorrow either. We just don’t know. The forecast is for rising temperatures and melting ice and snow with plenty of rain, so having a bonfire might be a bit of a challenge. The fire ring is at their farm, where there is plenty of open space. Neither their house nor ours has a Christmas tree to burn, as we both have live trees that we will be planting on the farm this year. We’re in a new place and we’ll be developing new traditions slowly.

In some places Epiphany Day is the traditional day to take down Christmas decorations, but there are other traditions in other places. Some folks leave their Christmas decorations up until Candlemas, celebrated in early February as the presentation of Jesus in the temple. Although Shakespeare’s play has the title Twelfth Night, it was first performed as part of a Candlemas celebration on February 2, 1602. Like some other Shakespeare comedies, there is a crazy confusion of relationships. Twins Viola and Sebastian are separated in a shipwreck. Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino, who is in love with Countess Olivia. Countess Olivia thinks Viola, who is disguised as Cesario, is a man and falls in love with her. Then Sebastian shows up and confuses things even more. In the end Viola and Duke Orsino get marriedThe whole thing is a bit silly and disorganized, appropriate for the mood of Twelfth Night celebrations. If a famous playwright like Shakespeare could produce a disorganized narrative, I guess it is almost in character for us to be “winging it” when it comes to our recognitions and celebrations.

So we might have a family dinner and celebration tonight or tomorrow night. We might have a bonfire or we might not. We might have a family blessing of our new house or we might just have a simple prayer as a couple. We might take care of our grandchildren at our house or at theirs. Things are a bit confused and up in the air. One of the joys of being semi-retired is having a bit of flexibility to our schedule and the ability to roll with last minute changes.

At least a bit of ribbon ice on the road isn’t intimidating us and the distance to our son’s place is short so we can drive slowly and be careful. May your home be blessed in this season and may you find joy in your family as we are finding in ours.