Of Celebrations, Decorations, and Holidays by Konnie Enos

A week or so ago my daughter was helping me set up my nativity and Christmas Village. Because of space constraints both are generally set up in the same area. Most recently this has been the top of a dresser in our living room with a desk back-to-back with it. (One end against the wall so that it somewhat divides the room in two.)

The first issue is the desk isn’t as tall as the dresser. So, we put the two crates back there to give more height on that side.

Then we began pulling out the pieces for my village and nativity. In the process we found a few pieces that could use a bit of glue. Only one of them was from my nativity.

(Don’t worry. We knew about the issues, and I’d gotten my glue out before we started unpacking anything.)

Anyway, after I’d glued the one piece from the nativity my daughter commented on being surprised it wasn’t more since, “This this is older than I am.”

I countered with, “Clearly, since I’ve had it longer than I’ve been married.”

It is a story my children know well.

In November of 1989 my stepmother and I had been invited to one of those home parties companies that sold knickknacks and other home decorations. In their catalogue they had several items that were parts of a nativity. The creche, the holy family, the animals and shepherd, and the wisemen. All told they came to about $100. In other words, not a small bit of money.

I was working but only working part-time. I’d also already decided how much of my income I could spare for Christmas presents. With that and what I needed for regular expenses, there simply wasn’t that much to spare for the whole set unless I revised my gift budget.

I mentioned to my stepmother how much I liked that set and wanted all the pieces but wasn’t sure I should spend that much money on it. And was trying to decide if I should just get one or two pieces and hope I could afford the rest the next year. And if I did that, which pieces should I get now.

She asked me just one question. “Can you afford it all?”

I told her something about getting some pieces because it didn’t fit into my planned budget.

She asked me the same question again.

This time I told her it would cut into my gift budget.

She asked me the same question again.

I finally said, “Well, technically, but I’d have to spend less on Christmas presents.”

She finally told me. “You might not have the money to buy something this nice next year. If you really want it, then buy it all now.”

I took her advice and bought the whole set.

Less than a year later I started dating my husband and we were married literally the day after Thanksgiving. Since I was living with a roommate and he was in base housing, we had to spend a good amount of our income that month on securing an apartment for the two of us.

We had very little to spare for Christmas presents let alone an expensive decoration.

And yes, because it is ceramic, it has been battered about a bit over the years. The ox has a good chunk of one of his horns missing. One of the wisemen, and Joseph have lost their heads a few times each. And the most recent mishap was the camel losing part of one leg. And though the creche is wood, it’s also had to be re-glued together at least once.

Of course, after getting married we spent the next 10 having kids and another 3 or so years being completely broke.

I have bought several nativities since. One each for my three daughters. (Two of those really nice set that I got inexpensively from the thrift store.) (My son’s also got a small set of their own but I didn’t buy those.) And one really nice set that required multiple years to purchase all the pieces because of the cost. I know I spent more than $500 altogether.

No. I do not have that set either. But Bonnie could show you a picture of it in her living room. (I thought she should have a big, nice set since she collects nativities.)

So, If you followed my story of the nativity, you’ll figure out that this week I celebrated my 35^th wedding anniversary. (And don’t tell me how long that is because I have an aunt and uncle who have been happily married since 1959.)

And I could have just told the story of how I finally got another little brother way back in 1975, on the day after Thanksgiving. So, happy 50^th little brother.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.