The newest addition to our Christmas decorations can be seen at left: the Fisher Price Little People Deluxe Christmas story.We had a nativity scene at our house when I was growing up. My grandma had several. My aunt has collected them from her travels all over the world and I swear she has so many that there seems to be one on every flat surface of her house. Even her washer and dryer hold manger scenes. I'm not kidding.
We only have one nativity set, the Little People one, because as much as I enjoyed looking at these scenes when I was a kid, there also seemed to be something cruel about them... All of those little dolls and animals that I wasn't allowed to play with. Man I hate myself every time I utter those words that I hated so badly as a child: Don't touch, just look. So as soon as I saw this set, I knew we had to have it.
I stole the picture above from the Fisher Price website. Ours looks just like that, of course. Well in the Martha Stewarty portion of my brain I imagine that ours looks just like that. Except at our house all the Little People sets get mixed together and played with at the same time.
So at our house, sometimes Mary and Joseph drive a hot-pink minivan and sometimes the policeman rides a camel. One of our wisemen (the one pictured front and center) is a woman. Amanda swears it and she's probably right. We're all for equal rights at our house. Our wisemen don't come bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh either. Our wisemen come bearing pennies, spaghetti and pork. I have no idea where Amanda came up with that but I like to think she just has some natural womanly instinct for gift-giving. Somehow she knows that what new parents really need is a lot of money and a hot meal every now and then.
Rats. This is another one of those stories about how I always got to play with the manger set and by the time you were born, it was probably too worn out to display anymore. Baby Jesus' arm was broke, but Mom just glued it back on. Where he layed comfortably in his cardboard manger with hay stuck in for good measure. The pink girl angel used to have some good times hanging out in the hills with Peter, Paul, and Dick (?) and the lambs and camels & stuff...Can't remember what Mom and Dad used to call the 3 Wisemen. Those WERE the days...but you weren't born yet! But on some surprise day every December, I'd come home from grade school and Mom had drug "Christmas" down from the attic, and she used to let me "set it up" i.e., play illicitly for hours with that manger. It was magic, and I'm so glad Amanda has the same joy.
ReplyDeleteAlong the same lines, I'd like to apologize for probably scarring Amanda for life this season after I played "Santa Little People" for HOURS (who knew she had so many Little People friends that were going to line up to see Santa?)
I'm sorry that Santa got tired of promising kids puppies and kitties. I'm sorry that the Department Store Santa started saying things like "go away, kid--you bother me, I need a smoke, come back in an hour" to Dora et al
But I couldn't help myself, because Amanda (who coincidentally played the voice of the 378 Little People children in line), would always say, in her sing-song sweet 3-yr old voice, "OK, Thank You Santa! We'll be back! And Merry Christmas!" Katie hissed at me everytime I did it, but...well, there was a lot of Little People kids in that line and The Babysitter/Santa was getting just a bit cranky--you just can't find good help these days. (Besides, the best babysitters were the ones that let you jump on the beds until your parents drove into the driveway.) You wait, next year she'll beg The Babysitter to play Cranky Santa again--and another magical holiday tradition begins. Signed, Anonymous Aunt Who Probably Won't Be Asked to Babysit Again
ReplyDeleteP.S. I just remembered: Mom & Dad named the Wisemen "Tom, Dick, & Harry." Hmmm, reflecting back on my childhood, I don't think this whole Santa w/an attitude-thing was My Fault--just a reflection of our upbringing: Direct all complaints to your mother.