Is there anyone who at some time hasn't had to suffer through the dozen, lengthy, tongue-twisting, memory-testing verses of one of this season's most annoying carols, "The Twelve Days of Christmas"?

I confess. From one Christmas to another I keep forgetting what there were eleven of, or what those six geese were doing.

But our consumer culture has forgotten that those twelve days don't start today, on December 12 and go through Christmas Eve day. The twelve days of Christmas start on Jesus' birthday, December 25, and continue through to January 6, Epiphany, when the church calendar marks the arrival of the three traveling kings or wise men at the baby Jesus' bedside.

December 12 is NOT the start of Christmas. It is, rather, the halfway mark for the season of Advent. We're still anticipa…