The day after tomorrow in Jan 1, what I call National Pointless Day. Because why should Jan 1st be a holiday, really?

My friends and I have no interest in getting drunk on Dec 31st and no interest in the football on Jan 1st. So I call the day National Pointless Day.

One day it occurred to me that daytime Jan 1 is a good time to have a session and a party. It also occurred to me that the 12 Days of Christmas are not over, and the 3 Kings have yet to come. Thus was born the tradition playing songs about the 3 Kings on Jan 1. Here is the perfect excuse to get out that dumbek that was in your Christmas stocking!

It's also the chance to release your inner belly dancer as we play lots of Am's and Em's and ring pretty bells.

This year's party has a new wrinkle. Our hostess has a number of friends who are women ministers. This is a chance for them to be mininstered to - to enjoy music and food that required no effort on their part.

It is a curious thing that songs about Christmas (angels and shepherds) seem to outnumber songs about Epiphany (3 Kings, or more accurately, Wise Men). However, I've found about a dozen, and we are ready to roll. The Cyberhymnal was a great help in this, but not all its Epiphany songs are under Epiphany, which made for some searching.

So that's the story for Jan 1, 2009. Perhaps you too, will call up some friends and say 'Let's get out the instruments on National Pointless Day.'