I have been working on a menu (with a little help from a very dear friend) for a Twelve Days of Christmas Dinner Party on Twelfth Night for my family and thought I would share it with you all, since I have been asked by a few friends. I don’t usually like posting before hand, since I don’t know how (or if!) it will turn out, but here are my plans!
.: The Menu :.
Eight Maids-a-Milking Eggnog and/or Pure White Punch
Four Calling Birds Chicken Wings or Salad with Grilled Chicken
Five Golden Onion Rings with Dipping Sauce
Six Geese-a-Laying Deviled Eggs or Egg Salad
Seven Swan’s a Swimming Bean Dip
(recalling the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit)
Nine Ladies Dancing Fruits of the Holy Spirit Salad
Twelve Drummer’s Drumming Chicken Drumsticks
(with maybe some crosses added instead of the extra pear’s out of pie dough)
Three French Hens Chocolate Coins in the Twelfth Night Rum Cake
(representing the three gifts of the Magi)
Ten (Lord’s a Leaping) Commandment Cookies
Eleven Piper’s Pretzel Rod Pipes and/or Chocolate Angelic Messengers
I also have this BEAUTIFUL new book that just arrived in the mail, in addition to both our old (pictured above) and new (from Jesse Tree Treasures) Twelve Days of Christmas ornaments to use as decorations!
I am also hoping to make Charlotte’s Epiphany Tart on Sunday. If all goes well, and I’m able to find everything I need at the store tonight, I’ll be back with pictures to share!
What are your plans for this year?
UPDATE: YOU CAN SEE PICTURES FROM OUR PARTY HERE.
How fun! I think I am going to try and pull this off too. And I love your ornament collection! Can you share more details about them, and possibly a link?
This is THE BEST idea, I love it. If I wasn't already hosting Bunco this week, I might try and throw something together quickly. I love the ornaments as well as all the recipes you've selected. I can't wait to hear how it turns out, wishing you the best of luck with such a fun party idea!
We've got the ornaments from Jesse Tree Treasures this year as well – they're really nice and we've been putting them on our little lighted tree alongside the O Antiphons ornaments (at the this year). Also have a 12 Days of Christmas book – Jan Brett – but may get that lovely one you posted for next year! Small presents for tomorrow morning while sleeping on Twelfth Night – Playmobil Three Kings playset among a couple of other things.
Is anyone doing the house blessing with chalk tomorrow?
Our plans look a lot like yours!! My daughter and I spent hours tryng to figure out what to make this year. I have not posted our menu yet, and I may change a few things still. We may use some of your ideas they look great,and I'll link back to you, maybe have a link up for this if you have time!
We are making cupcakes and using the 12 Days of Christmas Cupcake Kit By Meri Meri you can find the link on my blog post here.
http://createdtomother.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-12-days-of-christmas-start-of.html We also thought of serving chicken noodle soup for the the 3 hens, nine candy cane cookies for the nine ladies, little chocolate milks for the eight maids of milking with maybe milk duds.
Trying to keep it a little healthy and trying to watch our gluten. We also added learning activites to our evening this year. That activites are listed in the same post.
Have a great day Jessica!
WOW! You're so clever and that sounds like a feast.
Everything looks lovely Jessica! BTW, I showed the picture of your boys in their dwarf goods to my oldest son (almost 7) and he really liked them. Then he said to me, "what was really cool was the war birthday party." I was so surprised he remembered since that was so long ago hay I showed him that….and I haven't showed him your blog since! It seems it made quite an impression! God bless! Happy Feast of the Epiphany!
Hello Jessica~
This is from Debbie. I wanted to share a little celebration that our family does in honor of the Feast of Epiphany. My ancestry is Polish, German and Dutch so our family celebrates with rich ethnic customs from my ancestry throughout the beautiful liturgical year. Today I am cooking a meal of Polish dishes with a Polish almond cake with an almond hidden inside for dessert. Whoever gets the piece of cake with the almond in is King or Queen for the new year (which is a Polish tradition). One of our Polish traditions that we share together as a family is placing the Three Kings into our Nativity Scene today. We read this little Polish story from a Polish Nativity Play called Jaselka
(a very popular custom in Poland is for children and adults to have plays with singing and dancing and also puppet shows during the Twelve Days of Christmas and up to Candlemas Day). The Poles celebrate Christmas from December 25th to February 2nd.
Before the Three Kings enter the Nativity Scene the Three Kings kneel together before the manger. Balthasar speaks to the Baby Jesus:
"Dear Child, we come from the East
Where the sun rises first,
To pay you great homage.
We welcome You to earth
And bring our offerings."
First Caspar speaks as he rises to present his gift:
"I bring gold, my choicest possession, to the Blessed Child who will become the greatest of men."
Melchior rises next to present his gift and says:
"I bring precious myrrh with the hope that all nations can live in peace."
And lastly Balthazar as he rises to present his gift to the Christ Child says:
"I bring frankincense, fragrant as the spring flowers, that it may bind with love all the people of the world."
The Three Kings together say:
"We Three Kings have journeyed far
To find the Blessed Infant
From the East we followed the star,
Guiding us to Jesus.
Though He has no royal raiment
Nor a crown to wear,
We are dust in His great presence.
He is King everywhere."
Jessica May God Bless your dear family and our much needed world with Peace in this brand New Year. Sincerely, Debbie
Debbie,
Your traditions are wonderful!!!!! There is a Polish church in a nearby town where I live and I wonder if any of the families do this.
Thank you for sharing!
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing again!
I actually purchased the ornaments and stand from a Homeschool Conference many years ago. The ornaments are made by Kirkland (Costco). Over the years I've seen a number of lovely sets available at Costco over Christmas.
Thank you Kathy! It ended up being so much fun! I have lots of pictures to share as soon as I have a chance. I hope you had a blessed Epiphany and fun time playing Bunco!
I like how the Jesse Tree Treasures Ornaments match the lyrics for our new book, unlike the Jan Brett book. I'm finding it frustrating that the endings (the last 4 versus or so) are in different orders in so many of the Twelve Day of Christmas books!
We usually do the house blessing, but with my husband flying out first thing in the morning (and worrying about my sister who was in ICU all weekend) it didn't happen this year. 🙁
Wow! He has a great memory! 🙂
I can't believe it! That tart is just what I made last night. It was very last minute (I hadn't given it any prior thought until Mike asked "no king cake this year?" I had a little disaster in the past when I was trying to decide what figure I could bake into it, and I used an (heirloom) onyx necklace, which kind of melted. No big surprise, right? It just didn't occur to me that would happen. Won't try that again! My Williams Sonoma holiday cookbook has a king cake recipe calling for puff pastry, (which we don't have on hand) as well as the tart you linked to, which it said has been traditionally eaten for hundreds of years. I happened to have some jam as it turned out, or it would have been a no go! -Colby
You know, Kathy, it's too late now, but a Twelve Days of Christmas Themed Bunco night would be a BLAST! With 12 women (that is how many we had in our old Bunco group) each could be assigned a menu item to bring for appetizers and desserts and the prizes could be tied in as well!
I just might have to remember this idea for next year!!! 🙂 Thank you for the inspiration!
Beautiful in every way !