Twenty years ago, this nativity set adorned a hand me down, beat up coffee table in a tiny upstairs apartment. My first husband's dad made the tall ceramic figures for our first Christmas back in 1990. My camera captured only half the figures that sit on my piano today.
It's still my favorite decoration to unpack.
After Don (husband number two) and I moved into his former home, we decided to go through his Christmas stash and combine them both. Days before the search, he inferred a nice nativity set lay buried in the boxes piled high in our basement. I smirked, knowing there was no way his set could trump mine.
It doesn't. But it's every bit as special.
When we found the box, I opened more than another nativity set. I found myself staring at a post card from God: a ceramic set just like my own.
Don's first wife's mother made the set for them about the same time my first husband's dad made ours. It sits opposite mine on a wooden chest in our living room today. Their set has a matte finish, two fewer camels, a very cool angel, and several more chips than ours.
Perhaps I should have let my boys touch our glossy finished set more! Our three giant camels and removable baby Jesus tell the story well.
Regardless, as the holidays approached last year and coordinating kids and families churned an all too familiar stress, finding our matching nativities symbolized a deep togetherness - even if it lay hidden in a box for the first four years of our marriage.
It's still complicated. Blending families, traditions, and schedules creates hurdles we can't always cross. But every evening the last few weeks, I've relished the two sets lit on either side of my small living room.
A piece of him. A touch of her. Together here in our home.
"Joy to the world the Lord has come."
1 comment:
Our God is so good! I love your story. Thanks so much for sharing it.
Post a Comment