When the secular world starts putting its ‘holiday’ things away, and as shopping malls stop blaring ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’, Catholics should just be getting started their celebration of Christ’s birth! The cleaning and baking during penitential Advent pays off now, and the feasting and carolling begin. The days from the Feast of the Nativity to the Epiphany are known as ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, with Christmas itself being the first day, and Twelfthnight (5 January) being the last of the twelve days. But Christmas doesn’t end spiritually: the celebration of the events of Christ’s life as a child doesn’t end with Epiphany, and the great Christmas Cycle doesn’t really conclude until Candlemas Day on 2 February (Feast of the Purification of Our Lady) and the beginning of the Season of Septuagesima.