New Year's & Epiphany

Semi-traditional Japanese New Year's this year - as all have been after my mother died - but we rushed on the 1st to piece together a meal recalling those feasts with my mother's china. Sushi, vegetarian stew, tuna & yellowtail sashimi, tonkatsu pork cutlet, soba noodles, and loads of pickles with warm sake.

 

Then eased into Epiphany season, the 3 gentile Kings returning to their lands via detours, proclaiming the good news that would eventually reach all above...

and below, enlarging Israel & the promise of Abraham to all mankind.

Our lateness all things Advent/Christmas - and the cooperating evergreen tree of all time - allowed us to turn a missed opportunity (ie no tea) into an Epiphany feast this year.  Donning golden crowns, we began with a brief intro into the church calendar with Epiphany's bookend to Advent:  the days leading to Christ's death versus those leading to birth.

Jana baked King's Cake and other delectables with gold coin treasures for the littles.

Mont St Michel in Normandy where, supposedly, King's Cake - with a hidden almond or fruit - was first initiated as a way of selecting the next Epiphany King.  BTW, MSM featured in the recent Terrence Malick film, To the Wonder: