(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Top Comments: Seasonal 2023 Part II (Mangers, Menorahs & More?) Edition [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-12-11
Every year since 2010 I’ve done a series of December diaries focusing on a variety of seasonal topics ranging from music to food to ugly sweaters. (Full disclosure: I did ONE Seasonal diary in 2008, and 2009 was the first December K2 was with us (exactly fourteen years ago we were packing to return home from Ethiopia with him) so I was a little distracted :-)). You can find them all, tagged with #seasonal, and yes I have a spreadsheet so I know what topics I’ve done recently!
It’s time to do it again here in Let’s Go With This Is The New Normal 2023! While my personal December perspective is primarily secular but culturally Christian-based with a healthy mix of Winter Solstice and Unitarian Universalism, these diaries are for everyone who celebrates a holiday in December that makes you happy, that you mark differently than all the other days, or that involves negotiating who brings what food where… or even if there isn’t... this is a place for you and I really hope you’ll bring yourself to the comments!
Last week we examined decorating for the holidays… when we decorate and whether those festive temporary additions to our living spaces are the same every year. This past Saturday Mr. Brillig and I, joined by Eldest and their significant other, made the annual trek all the way over to the next town to our favorite farm stand to procure a tree. It took us forever this year, a whole seven minutes, to find the perfect tree. Of course, half of that was chatting with a friend we didn’t know worked there, so I don’t know if it really counts. It’s in our living room smelling wonderful, with lights on and a box of ornaments ready to hang.
When I think of my childhood home, I can see it decorated for Christmas as if it was yesterday. The tinsel-laden tree, shining like a disco ball when all the definitely-not-cool-LED lights were on. The cute holiday-themed candles which somehow we never lit because then they’d be used and not decorations. The garlands and lights indoors and out. That cardboard fireplace with the orange tissue paper flames (IYKYK). The elves that perched on our shelves LONG before they had to move daily to amuse the kiddos, and who still sit in my living room today.
NOT the Nativity from my childhood, but the one used by my UU congregation.
And every year, my Dad would go up the ladder into the attic and along with the lights and ornaments would retrieve our Nativity. It was fragile, made of dark brown thin wood, with the front folding down to make space for the tableau. Over the years the Wise Men got a little weary-looking and I’m pretty sure we had to supplement the farm animals with toy ones, but it was a steady presence amongst the presents and tinsel. (Did I mention the tinsel? LOTS of tinsel). It was the only real *religious* symbol my Catholic family put up every year.
I don’t know what happened to that Nativity. Like many things, it disappeared when my parents divorced and even though I cleaned out both living spaces when first Dad and then Mom died decades ago, I never found it. And as I left the faith of my upbringing, married non-religious Mr. Brillig and eventually settled into my current denomination, a Nativity never seemed to “fit” our household.
Until this year. As I’ve mentioned here before, I have a mild addiction fondness for the little decorative birds sold in Target (and maybe other places? I’m faithful to my one and only source). When K1 (at 25yrs old, do I still use K?) visited recently, she gifted me with this absolutely perfect-for-me Nativity set. It came with Mary and Joseph birds, the Stable/Manger, and that little Jesus bird.
We added the plastic egg because naturally that little baby bird can’t be in scene until Christmas!! It’s been living on a shelf out of sight but is perched above the Star for this photo.
I added a small Squishmallow cow and my Funko Pop Vaporeon, because a Stable needs Animals. I’m pretty sure that more will be added between now and the 25th.
The only (sadly low-resolution) photo I have of the Menorah my congregation uses. I need to remedy this next year because it is a beautiful tribute to a long-gone former child in our congregation.
I have friends who have multiple Nativity scenes in their houses… perhaps one or more inherited from relatives no longer here, or one found while traveling, or gifted by parents to the happy couple on their first Christmas together.
And on this fifth night of Hanukkah, as on the past four, my social media feed is filled with pictures of lit menorahs. In one that caught my eye, a friend posted a table with six different menorahs. Each was different, ranging from formal to one made with a child’s alphabet blocks spelling out their firstborn’s name. I can see how each must have special significance and the next time I see my friend I will ask about them.
My knowledge of other December traditions unfortunately isn’t sufficient to know whether there are similar objects with significance. I have to assume that yes there are… I do believe the similarities between us far outnumber our differences, after all. Do YOU have something similar that you either put out now, or remember from your childhood or past lived experience? Does this bring to mind any memories or other things you’d like to share with us? I do hope you’ll all join me in the comments as we move through our December season. After, of course, we peruse tonight’s Tops!
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/11/2211156/-Top-Comments-Seasonal-2023-Part-II-Mangers-Menorahs-amp-More-Edition?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
