I became an accidental collector of nativity sets. I mean, I didn’t intentionally collect them, but I have several. Among the collection is a ceramic one made by my Grandmother for me when I was in elementary school. One is handmade from County
When The Entertainer was 2 or 3, the olive wood nativity was on a large round end table that was the perfect height for her to see and move the figures. The figures changed position often depending on which girl had been in the room last. If The SportsQueen, who was 5 or 6, had been there last, all of the figures would be in a circle around baby Jesus.
One afternoon, I happened to notice that baby Jesus was missing. I looked on the floor, under the couches, in between the cushions, I couldn’t find baby Jesus. I finally asked the girls if they knew where baby Jesus was. The Entertainer did.
She took me to her room where baby Jesus was laying in her crib. I think she took the words of “Away in a Manger” to heart. Baby Jesus had “no crib for his head,” so she gave him a crib – her crib.
I gently explained to The Entertainer that baby Jesus needed to stay on the table with his momma. More than once I told her that baby Jesus wants to be with his momma.
The next time I noticed baby Jesus was MIA I went her crib to retrieve baby Jesus . Sure enough there was baby Jesus ... and his momma.
4 comments:
This too shall preach. Lovely.
I love the sportsqueen's arrangement. And I love the Nativity scene collections too.
That is so sweet and made me cry!
The Entertainer sounds so familiar! From the time I was quite little I was taught "how" to arrange the pieces in the nativity, the way my mama said they were "supposed to be." After many years of futile effort...she gave up! Her li'l gal (me) would set it up however she felt at the moment, and the players were subject to rearrangement at any time, without warning! We now have a nativity collection of our own, and many of the them get rearranged by our own kids...they know which ones are off limits...the crystal, the glass, the fragile ceramic...and which ones are fair game. Having witnessed/been the cause of my mom giving up...I didn't even try to impose any real limits on my kids...just that the pieces had to stay together somehow, in/around the creche, and that baby Jesus couldn't stay on the roof with the angel (super glue works wonders!) Thanks so much for sharing this!
Flash put the nativity set away in his "treasure box" last night. Not sure why. He is particularly fond of the camel though.
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