This year, Epiphany fell on the first day back to school. There would be no time for a present exchange in the morning (we rarely make it to school on time as it is) and Monday night of a school week was not a great time for a feast (not to mention an impending single-digit weather cold snap promised to keep any potential guests at their own home). So, it was a quiet Epiphany. While Meg was at school, Clare pulled out the full Little People Nativity set and created her perfect Little People world. She completed it by covering up a section with tissues. "What's the purpose of the tissues," I asked. "It's to hide them from Herod."
Ah Herod...strangely, Clare has been obsessed with Herod this year. While we have four different nativity sets in our house, not a single one includes a Herod figurine (I'm guessing there's never been a nativity set that includes Herod). Ever creative, Clare found a plastic stork figurine and designated him Herod. I walked into the living room one day to see her having the Angel Gabriel give her stork Herod a lecture on how he shouldn't want to kill the baby Jesus.
In the afternoon, I gave Meg and Clare each a book as their Epiphany present. In truth, these books were supposed to have been Christmas presents, but I had forgotten them in the top of my closet. This was a relief because, due to the new baby, I did not have much time for Epiphany present shopping. As temperatures dropped outside and the wind blew in a cold front, we snuggled up and read a beautifully illustrated version of Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen. It wasn't a traditional way to spend Epiphany, but it was enjoyable.