A collector I am not. I have a few cute salt-n-pepper shakers, but not enough to say I collect them. I like to buy some kind of jewelry whenever I take a vacation - more of a momento than a collection. There are two things however, that I make a point of securing each Christmas that might just make me a seasonal collector. Without fail for the past at least 10 years or more I buy a pair of Christmas pajamas. Yes, once the pair of the year is purchased, I save them to wear only on Christmas Eve into Christmas morning. There are pink flamingos in a trailer park fully decked out in Christmas lights, there are snowflakes, hot chocolate drinking reindeer, Christmas trees, and peppermint candies just to name a few. Some are flanel, some are knit...the best are fleece!!! This year, in case you are wondering, the pjs of choice are hot pink flanel with little fat penguins in colorful stocking caps sledding and skiing. Pretty huh? After that many years, I guess you could say I have built up quite the collection, so I try to wear every pair at least once between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. I don't know what I'll do in another 20 years when there aren't enough days to accomplish my goal. The other thing I suppose I collect at Christmas are nativity sets. Many moons and seasons ago, I decided this collection would be a wonderful way to document my life. Someday, when I was dead and gone, my children and grandchildren would look back through all of the many many nativities and read the stories about where the set was purchased,who bought it for me,what that year symbollized, or what that particular nativity commemorated. Sometimes I buy the nativity for the year, sometimes it's a gift, sometimes there is more than one. Inevitably, it speaks to me. Like the pjs, no nativity is the same. I have one large set and several smaller ones, some even tiny ones. Some are metal, some are ceramic, some are colorful, some are handmade, some are sweet, and some, like the one pictured here, take your breath away. I saw this particular nativity at a store in Minneapolis, MN while on a little mini-vacation this fall. My parents were there and secretly purchased it for me. Since displaying it, every single day I have looked at it in awe and wonder. There are times when it seems Mary is so at peace. At others, I feel I can see the concern in her brow. Joseph appears to be so very dedicated to her comfort and safety. I have dreamt all of my life that I can remember of being a mother and think that the joy, excitement and anticipation of pregnancy must be the most wonderful feeling a woman could experience. I wonder what Mary felt. Did she know what would come for her son? Did she understand the depth of her role of bearer and mother of Jesus? Did she know that with him, that the eyes of the blind would be opened,that the ears of the deaf unstopped, that the lame would leap like deer and the tounge of the speechless would sing for joy, that there would be joy everlasting and that all sorrow and sighing would flee away? It is beyond my comprehension what that must have been like for her. What a precious gift.
