Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Do You See Jesus?

I was given a vintage nativity set by an aunt, one I'd admired in her home. She has her own rules on religion, including following the old Protestant precept that it's bad to show pictures of God. So I wasn't surprised when she had displayed it without the actual manger. But I was rather surprised when she gave it to me sans child, and when I asked she said she'd thrown it away. So its more respectful to toss Baby Jesus out with the old coffee grounds than it is to display it? Ooookaaay.

So now I've got Joseph, three kings, and a bunch of shepherds hanging around with Mary and the animals, all waiting for a non-existant savior. I know exactly how appropriate the atheists and agnostics would find that, and while I'm not without a sense of irony, I'd like to complete the set. Call it OCD. So I'm searching on Ebay through 11,000 some items for nativity scenes to find one that roughly matches. There are tons of odd statuettes, but you'd be surprised how much the Jesuses (Jesusi? Jesi?) go for. D thinks people make wreaths out of them. How odd.

Of course, I could always just do as a colleague suggested - wrap a bunch of cotton up, plop it in the center, and when people look at it oddly, say: "Do you see Jesus? You have to really believe, you know. Don't you see Jesus?"

I think I'll keep looking.

**UPDATE**

D found the baby Jesus wreath bit - - Annelle makes one in Steel Magnolias. So the good news is that I won my baby Jesus and hopefully it will blend nicely with the rest of the set. The bad news is that somewhere a propsperson is cussing.

Side Note: A beautiful quote he found while looking it up: "When someone asks you 'think about what Jesus would do', remember that a valid option is to freak out and turn over tables" -- Unknown

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