My manger scene

There's a story behind my nativity set:  it tells me what my mother was like, at her best.  The camels, and the Holy Family, were gifts to Mother on two different Christmases, given by one of her Avon customers.  A lady who made ceramics as a hobby wrapped them and presented them to her.  The rest of the cast portrayed here, I was fortunate to find at a Wal Mart; they were cheap, and made to the same scale as my Holy Family.  But back to my mother.

She started selling Avon in 1963, I believe.  She was more than a saleslady:  she became bosom buddies with most of the housewives in her "territory".  If she happened in at lunchtime, she was invited to share a meal.  She often heard their most private thoughts and confessions.  If someone needed a friend, Mother was there.   

These are the parts of my manger scene made for my mom and gifted to her years ago:  Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and the two camels.

That's what my nativity set reminds me:  that my mom was there for the people who needed her, and they loved her enough to give her very special Christmas gifts.  Before she went into the nursing home, I asked Mother who made these ceramics for her.  "Brenda Tuttle," she said.  I didn't know the lady, but I wrote her name on the bottom of one of the camels with a marker so her gift wouldn't be forgotten.  I know she lived in Blue Springs, because that's where Mother's Avon territory was.

Every granddaughter I've had, beginning with Amber, has played with Baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary, and moved the camels around to change the scene a bit.  So of course, the whole Nativity set has become more precious each year because of the little hands that have touched it.

I'm not a "people person".  But my mom was.  And in the past few years, any time I've caught myself being too critical of her, I remind myself that anyone who had that many friends, couldn't have been anything short of wonderful.

Here you have the whole scene, including the Walmart additions

Most of this entry is copied and pasted from my old AOL journal.  I had to add the pictures, since when I transferred my journal to Blogger, most pictures didn't come through because they were stored on AOL.  That particular little blog lasted from 2004 to 2008, when AOL decided to dispense with blogs.  

Wow, I've been blogging for ten years!