Epiphany!

Today is Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas, the day the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem. It is also the last day you can leave your Christmas tree up and not be considered a bit of an eccentric (i.e. crazy) by your friends, family, and neighbors. I myself don't worry about that, since they all think I'm crazy already. But I digress. Epiphany is a national holiday in Italy, and celebrated all over the rest of Europe, too. Here in the United States, down in Louisiana, Epiphany marks the beginning of the Carnival season, culminating in Mardi Gras. Here in Colorado, in Manitou Springs - one of my favorite small towns - they celebrate Epiphany with the Great Fruitcake Toss, where fruitcakes are thrown by participants dressed as kings, fools, and a variety of other characters. Of course, January 6th is now famous (or more correctly, infamous) as the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Down in Florida, an event featuring everyone's favorite wacko congressperson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, was scheduled to take place at a Florida resort to commemorate the "3rd Anniversary of January 6th," but was canceled by Westgate Resorts in Kissimmee when they found out what the event was really celebrating. They probably originally thought it was all about tossing fruitcakes, instead of a gathering of people nutty as fruitcakes.