Sunday, November 18, 2007

22 Days And Counting

With the arrival of our second son drawing nigh, Caleb and I are headed to Utah about 12 days before Christmas. So, this year we are having our own little nuclear family Christmas celebration on the 9th instead of the 25th. Of course, Caleb and I will celebrate again with Grandeur and Grandest and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins and friends, but Kenny won't be with us, and will in fact be celebrating with strangers (okay, they are good friends, and the closest thing we have to family on this continent - except for Adrianne and family) so this is our compromise.

The Christmas bazaar at the American High School where we finished our Christmas shopping on Saturday.

Yesterday we put up all our Christmas decorations, which isn't much since most were acquired when we lived in a 1 bedroom basement apartment with a very low ceiling and wall to wall book shelves. Our paltry collection of ornaments and Christmas decor is dwarfed by our 12 foot ceilings and endless empty rooms in our current, courtesy of the American tax-payers, home. But, since Peru doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving all the stores have had decorations up for ages and windows all over town are decked with lights and trees in anticipation of Jolly Old Saint Nick so we are really just doing as the "Romans" do by decorating early.

Our very sad Peruvian artificial tree - high on our list of things to acquire when next in the States is a tree that doesn't lean to the left.

If you're like me, you have a favorite item(s) you can't wait to put out when Christmas rolls around each year. For me, may favorites are our advent calendar and nativity scene. We searched high and low for an advent calendar we both loved and finally found one we are over the moon for. It was pricey, but worth it and I LOVE IT!

This is not my photo, but ours only has 4 ornaments as of today and this
image gives you the full effect!


We did the same search for a nativity that was beautiful and unique and truly representative of the Savior and just couldn't settle on anything. And then on a trip to Portugal and Spain with the aforementioned Adrianne, there it was, shoved into a corner of a store window in Granada, Spain. Adrianne saw it first, of course, and we were both so taken with it that we each bought one, the only ones they had. The figurines are stunning in their design and the faces are so lifelike they take my breath away. Of course with Caleb approaching two, having both of these items out for display means a month long battle of "Mommy said don't touch", but I get such joy from our calendar and our creche that the suffering pales in comparison.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

A nativity in an Amazon Jungle theme we have acquired while in Peru.

Another nativity acquisition in Peru - notice the alpaca and llama flanking
the Christ child.

8 comments:

Jake said...

Love the Peruvian nativity!

Celia Fae said...

I love your advent. Are those little ornaments chocolate? Perhaps white chocolate?

You are going to have an awesome nativity collection in twenty years. Heck, you even have an awesome one now!

Mindy said...

i like the peruvian nativities just as well and think i shall start a collection too. i am excited you will get to celebrate christmas twice. any names picked out for baby #2?

D-dawg said...

I love your nativities! I totally would love to collect those. There are so many neat ones out there. So far I only have one )o: Have a fun celebration!

Adrianne said...

First, I am honored to be mentioned twice in one post!!! Woo hoo I'm popular! ha ha. I am draggin out our decorations next week so we have time to enjoy them before we head north. And I didn't end up buying the nativity with you, and have regretted it ever since because I cannot find one I like...

Linsey said...

Adr - I have such a vivid memory of your buying one too -- how strange. I promise the next time I'm there, and it is likely I will be at some point so this is not just a fly by night promise, I'll find that store and get it for you!

Ilene said...

Heather gave me one of those Peruvian creche sets! Unfortunately, the guy with the bread basket or fruit basket broke. But I still LOVE it. My mom collects creches from around the world too. She has a beautiful wood carved one from Ecuador.

Trying not to be jealous that you have been to so many cool places. I bet you have not been to the Eugene, Oregon Holiday Market, though. You can buy all the tie-dye underwear your heart desires there. Just don't wear leather or brush your hair before going. Otherwise you will get dirty looks the entire time.

Heather said...

We'll take good care of Kenny, though he may want to disown us after he has to listen to my father-in-law's entire repertory of bad jokes at least twice before Christmas dinner is over.

And in defense of the Eugene, Oregon Holiday Market...it is not all the bad. In fact, I bought a lovely hair brush there once.

Heather (and Sebastian and Carlos)

 

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