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Friday Slide Show: A Manger Scene
6 December 2024
There was not going to be a Christmas tree this year for the first time in decades. Not only was Joyce in a nursing home but pur disability has not resolved itself enough to drive and wrestle with Noble Firs.
But we had more props this year from the family home we cleared out so we had a look at what might suffice instead.
We found a box of ice lights that fit perfectly across our front window. The old multicolored mini-lights were dying off one by one so we would have had to buy new ones this year. We're not a big fan of white lights but, as we said, they suffice.
We also found a box marked "Manger."
We're not a great fan of religious displays either. But this time of year, we don't mind a few angels flying around. And we're a sucker for a good story, like going by foot and mule to be recorded in a census only to find no room at any inn.
A manger, it turns out, isn't a barn but the trough the animals eat from. Just the right size for an infant, apparently. And comfortable enough with some hay, which can double as a disposable diaper, we suppose.
So we had a look at the manger.
There was the infant, Mary and Joseph (whose height is how you measure the set; ours is 5.5-inches tall). Three kings bearing gifts. A shepherd with a tiny flock of two. And the barn, too.
On the bottom of the figurines is a label that says only "West Germany." We can tell they are wood, hand carved and hand painted.
We have no idea who purchased them or where. They could be Mom and Dad's or Mom's parents or go even further back. We don't remember them being displayed at Christmas.
We took some photos under an old brass lamp in front of the black fabric grill of a bookcasse speaker. We didn't think they'd amount to much but if they did, they might serve as Christmas cards. Which might reveal how they came into the family.
Meanwhile, we know how they came into this family. And how they brightened up an otherwise dark holiday season.
