Epiphany

In keeping with my New Year's Intentions, I marked Epiphany today. This is the traditional Twelfth Night celebration at the end of the Christmas Festivities, the day when the Three Wise Men arrrived to worship Jesus, the revelation of the Messiah to the gentiles.I baked a simple Galette des Rois with my eldest son. He doesn't often join in cooking now - he can make coffee, tea and muffins - what else is there to learn? - so it was a pleasant surprise when he decided to put on his apron. The cake called for three stiffly beaten egg whites and six yolks, so I took the opportunity to teach him about whisking egg white and he made meringues with the extras. We ate the cake at dinner time and read the biblical account of the arrival of the Magi and T.S. Eliot's beautiful poem. My middle son was in charge of the wise men themselves and fashioned their hats from blue tack and his collection of semi-precious stones.
It has been one of those days when I have felt that I have neglected the children. I told a friend that we had done nothing educational today, but as I told my husband what we had been up to and reflected on our day, I could see that passing on cookery skills and celebrating in small way a Christian Festival, as well as the free-write we did make time for, plus chess-and-sewing session with the neighbours, a library visit and Brownies adds up to quite an educational day.