"On the 8th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me - 8 maids a-milking ..."

On a day when many are not as festive as they were the night before, we celebrate another day of Christmas. Around the neighborhood, decorations are coming down, and businesses are offering clearance prices on all the stuff they didn't sell in the past 5 weeks. What is your focus today?

This carol was written at a time when refrigeration did not exist and milk would spoil soon after milking. The gift of the 8th day was probably something that would be assumed - in order for the maids to be milking, they needed cows, something few could afford.

Let's leave the maids and the cows and go back to the reality of parenthood. A young couple, having just made a journey to their ancestral town while the young woman was near the end of her pregnancy, now needed to fulfill their roles as parents. Since this child is a boy, not only will he be named, he will also be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. (Luke 2:21). This would be the first time his blood was shed to fulfill our salvation. The name, Jesus, is derived from the Hebrew for 'salvation' or 'savior'.

Today, I'm focused on that young family and the young families around - how about you?

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella. (2 milk maids)