Eggnog

I was in Starbucks last evening looking for an expensive hot drink.  I was at the right place.  A couple of years ago during Advent I tried their eggnog latte which I really liked.  Alas it is not good to have champagne taste on a beer budget.  I have found a beer budget alternative which involves using eggnog instead of cream in my coffee.  Not quite as good but I can drink 10 of them for the price of one at Starbucks.  But this is only obliquely about eggnog and coffee.

As I walked in last night I thought, "Ooooh, an eggnog latte sounds great."  However all of the festive red signage had been replaced by the usual black.  A bad sign.  The holiday fare was no longer available.  I lamented.  Aloud.  I told the barista (a word I was blissfully ignorant of until the Seattle coffee culture invaded the rest of the continent), I told the barista that Christmas was not yet over, that in fact it would last until Saturday only changing with the feast of the Epiphany on Sunday.  I unapologetically used these technical words, "Christmas" and "Epiphany," as I feel "holiday" is too generic.  Indeed yesterday, when I was looking for Christmas eggnog was only ten drummers drumming day, we still had pipers piping and lords a leaping to go.

He good-naturedly suggested that they still had peppermint.  But that's not eggnog, is it?

It's all very anachronistic and not at all culturally relevant, but I find that as the years go on I am being increasingly attuned to and formed by the church calendar and less by the Gregorian one.  (Following it consistently has a lot to do with this.)  The rhythms of the year, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost have become the rhythms of my life.  Days like Pentecost hold more interest and significance for me than Mother's Day.  The feast of St. Michael and All Angels (September 29) is one I remember before Groundhog Day.

The church year is shaped around the redeeming work of God in Jesus Christ.  All of the major events and themes of his life are brought before me every year for contemplation and adoration.  Critical events in the lives of his apostles (the conversion of St. Paul - January 25 - and the confession of St. Peter - January 18, for example) annually present themselves for education and edification.

It is not my intention to hate on Mother's Day or President's Day or even Black Friday (although this last one tempts me to judge).  I am merely stating that I appreciate being shaped and formed by Jesus' story more and more.  It is, in the end, what I want most.

So today is still Christmas - eleven pipers piping day.  I'm going to see if I can find some eggnog.