I love Christmas. It has always been my favorite day of the year. While I love to decorate the tree with twinkling lights and tinsel, but my favorites are the nativity sets that I place in virtually every room of my home. I’ve been collecting them for years and each of them has a special story associated with them.
My husband and I were married in early October so our first Christmas together came only two months after our wedding. We were both students at the time, still doing our best to gather enough hours to graduate. I had a job as a teachers’ aide at Elliot Elementary and earned just enough to pay our rent and buy gasoline and a few groceries. To say that we lived on a shoestring would be an understatement but somehow we believed that we would make it on a wing and a prayer.
The first Christmas we managed to cut back just enough on our grocery bills to purchase gifts for our parents, my brothers and each other. It was almost a magical feat to pull it off, but we did it. We also managed to purchase a tiny live Christmas tree and a couple of boxes of ornaments and a string of lights. It wasn’t exactly a Charlie Brown tree but it was rather close. Somehow we did not even notice how meager our efforts must have appeared to everyone else. We were proud that we had managed to stretch our budget just enough to have a bit of Christmas cheer.
The only thing that seemed to be missing was a nativity scene. Somehow it did not feel right without one and yet we were measuring every single penny. That’s when I found one that was only five dollars. It was small and rather plain but it had all the major characters in the story of Jesus’ birth and somehow we loved it. Still, we did some serious soul searching to determine if we would make it until my next paycheck if we splurged any more than we already had.
We must have walked away from that little creche five or six times until finally deciding to throw caution to the wind. We still have it fifty six years later and it remains my favorite because of what it meant to us when we shared our first Christmas together.
Since that time we have purchased many other Nativity sets that are much grander. We have one that takes up the space of an entire table. It is perfectly styled in porcelain. The figures are almost a foot high and the colors so true to life. There is even a lovely background for the scene. It is the most elegant of our collection and while I truly love it, there is another set that takes my heart. It is a set of little figurines from A Charlie Brown Christmas. All of the familiar characters are decked out in costumes that appear to be made from sheets. They wear paper crowns and veils. Baby Jesus is portrayed by Woodstock and Snoopy is a stunning shepherd. It brings back memories of watching those characters celebrate the birth of Jesus each year on television when we watched with our little girls who still tune in to the Christmas classic to this very day.
There is also another very special set that has a story similar to the one from our first Christmas. It centers around one of the first Christmases after my father died. My mother, brothers and I had settled into a new house and wondered if anything would ever again be as magical as it had been when my father was still alive. Mama soldiered on through her grief and did her very best to deck the rooms of our home with tinsel and a lovely tree. She played Christmas music and laughed at our antics.
Later Mama and I made cookies and stored them in tins in case anyone came to visit. We had packages under the tree and my brothers and I had visited Santa and shyly told him what we wanted. We hung our stockings and felt quite proud of how everything looked so lovely. Then Mama suggested that we take a trip to the neighborhood TG&Y to look for presents for our neighbors.
As we walked up and down the aisles perusing the offerings we suddenly noticed a magnificent Nativity set with gloriously crafted figurines. It came with a lovely wooden structure that seemed to be almost real. We could not take our eyes from it. We were frozen in admiration and without saying anything it became apparent that each of us was wishing that it could be in our house for Christmas. Sadly the price seemed to be more than we dared spend so we left the store without even suggesting that we purchase it.
On the way home Mama quietly spoke about how lovely the Nativity set was. Sensing that she was waiting for encouragement we bravely admitted how much we would like to have it in our home. Mama became quite pensive and began to list the pros and cons of spending so much money. We were already home before the debate had even ended. We silently went into the house believing that it was a pipe dream to think that we might be able to buy the beautiful Christmas scene.
Being children we were soon distracted by silly games when Mama suddenly appeared and announced that she believed that we would never forgive ourselves if we did not go back to get the set. She grabbed her purse and told us to follow her to the car. It only took a few minutes to get back to the store and to our delight the Nativity scene was still there. We were overjoyed as the clerk carefully wrapped each piece and placed everything in a lovely box.
We set up the the three kings, the shepherds, Mary, Joseph and Jesus as soon as we got home. It would be part of our Mama’s Christmas decorations for the rest of her life. That set is now about sixty eight years old and lately it has sat in my home. The pieces are worn with age and some of them are missing. The wooden building fell apart years ago but what is left is still so wonderful that I cry a few joyful tears as I set it up each year.
I have many other Nativity sets each of which have wonderful stories as well but the ones I have told about you are sure the best. Christmas is about love and I remember it as I set the figures out each year.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 