Tradition. Can it help us be strong in family and faith?
My grandmother had a nativity set just like this when I was small. It was carefully laid out on a little table, usually near the Christmas tree, right next to the front window. Ribbon candy appeared in a little blue dish along about that time too.....
I loved it, although it was a little intimidating too. Baby Jesus, those scary wise men, and all you know, and we were not allowed to get too close to it. However, I so desperately wanted to touch the animals and move the figurines .
Fast forward many years. Grandma is gone and the set left to another family member, who no doubt loves it dearly.
Meanwhile I found this one at a garage sale down in town for just five dollars quite many years ago. The parts were not all there but we had fun finding replacements that kinda, sorta, almost matched, making legs for the broken dog, discovering that someone had added an extra wise man and putting in a Border Collie too.
It is a beloved tradition that is strong in our family, so much so that the kids actually cleared off Grandma Lachmayer's dining room table, another object steeped in family lore, without complaining too awfully badly. And it was buried pretty deep.
This morning was the first time Peggy has ever seen it. She seemed as awed as I was all those years ago, and wanted to add one of her cows to the one next to the manger. Hopefully she will learn the stories that go with the figures and remember grandmothers and aunts and uncles and Christmases filled with the magic of love and family, just as I do.
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6 comments:
She looks more awed by whatever is in the living room. I have the blue dish and your Uncle Larry keeps if filled with old time candy. I always loved Christmas too, and it was times treasured when they all came to our house for Christmas dinner. Love you all. Mom
I love Christmas also...it's my most favorite time of the year...next to summer, spring, and fall!
Linda
Do you realize you guys are on the cutting edge of decorating with that platform scale?
Loving watching Peggy grow from afar :)
Mom ,Alan strung lights over the archway and she was wowed by them too. He has been going just a trifle crazy with the Christmas decorations. lol Love to you too!
Linda, it is better now that there is a little one to enjoy and the pressure is off on some other fronts....
Nita, really? lol, we bought it when Johnstown Knitting Mill sold out. They had a large number of them that they used to weigh fabric and stuff. We had to have movers get it into the house as it is really, really heavy.
Oh Marianne. This is so beautiful it makes me want to weep for what is past. But no! no! I will celebrate the fact of you and little Peggy adding her little cow to the manger.
Cathy, She is such a dear...loves to get Uncle Alan to turn on the Christmas lights for her for a few minutes. She has her little demands. She points up the stairs and says, "Kit-kit" and if Aunt Becky doesn't go right up and get a cat for her to pet, she will try to drag her over to the stairs to get her started. With me it's my phone. It's full of music and she loves music. So she will come and point and bop her head back and forth to get me to turn it on. She loves Skippinish and my livelier things, but can forgo the slow and quiet ones all day. She just stomps off in a huff if a slow song comes on. I hope the nativity tradition will be carried on, but if it isn't, that's okay too. The kids will have the memories, and a connection to their Great Grandma Lachmayer as well. It's all good.
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