Three Kings Night... An Epiphanic Interlude

I truly love the Christmas season... but by that, I mean exactly what I said. I am NOT a fan of the shopping season between the Macy's Parade (though I love the parade itself, and Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday) and December 23rd.

I love and believe in Advent. Many of those who know me at least a little bit think this means that I am some sort of a religious freak who can't get passed my past as a Baptist preacher (though... of course... Baptists in general have no quarter for a season like Advent). For me, the thing about Advent is the antici... PATION. The four weeks spent waiting for the creation to be fulfilled, the time spent thinking on who and what we might be, we could be, we... CAN be. There is an exquisite aesthetic to taking the darkest time of the year and going inward rather than jumping around in a shopping frenzy in malls and stores with jingle bells blathering out of every little tin speaker.

But when Christmas comes... I want to take the time to let it seep into my bones, trickle down to my toes and then blast up through my head in a celebration of how absolutely wonderful it is to be alive. I like it to take a long time.

THERE ARE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.

And then comes Epiphany... The day The Wise Guys arrive with the presents... and then turn around and skip out on the government surveillance program. The radical nature of extending Christmas for nearly two weeks beyond what the capitalist structure wants us to engage in, and thereby breaking it out of the standard model of greed, and craziness, and tension and into a new world of sharing and talking, and eating and drinking and laughing... THIS is the subversive nature of Christmas. This is why it's more than Santa... more than Rudolph... and even more than the Baby Jesus.

This is why it's so deeply important... and so damn much fun.

So last night, for Epiphany, I decided to celebrate with friends in the true chaos of the season, for Epiphany is not only the day The Magi arrive... in New Orleans, it's also the start of Carnival. It's the time for craziness, for openness, for life breaking through the dismal mundanity of the day to day. It's the time to have a hell of a party - with your family (that's my daughter as Jailhouse Elvis by the way), friends, neighbors, loved ones and acquaintances - on a TUESDAY night!

It's the perfect time for The King... or more accurately, THREE Kings!

It's the time to go home by another way,