This one...and she brought six of her friends along with!
Another winter favorite in Florida that I am so pleased to finally have had some success with is cilantro!
The Swedish fig baskets are still beautiful!
I have green beans growing...not very many, but I am delighted with my farming pursuits this winter anyway.
The other day when I saw flowers on the sweet peas, it was so exciting. The flowers are deep purple, but obviously camera shy. I have hope for peas at some point!
Brianna spoke in Sacrament Meeting at church today. She was so responsible preparing for her assignment, writing and practicing her talk. Good job, sweetie!
When we finally arrived, it was so festive and beautiful that our companions were overawed and impressed. How is it that we haven't taken Doug and Al here before?
We had a wonderful dinner with the Torontos at one of the in house restaurants, Villa de Flora. It is an Italian buffet that is amazing.
At our school we have a snack n yak after school once month with each grade level taking a turn hosting. It was second grade's turn today. I had a post observation interview with the Assistant Principal scheduled, so I took my treats over to the Media Center and was waiting for her when I heard my name announced all over the school to come back to the Media Center.
SURPRISE!
My teaching partner, Colleen had come to school to join the celebration as well as Melody Shipley, my first job share companion. The teachers gave me a gift certificate to my favorite restaurant in town, The Goblin Market. In addition, the second grade team gave me a gift certificate to the Yard Stop, a local nursery.
I was very surprised!
And delighted with the thoughtful gifts!
The nativity tour has been made possible in large part because my husband has supported me in my quest. Here is another of his finds. In Los Angeles on a business trip, he spotted this Peruvian gourd. Having served his mission in that country, he thought that it would be a great addition to our collection. For at least the past 40 years we have shared the Christmas holiday, with the exception of the two that he spent in Peru. 
I have finished eight Christmas stockings for my grandkids the past eight years. A number of years ago, I saw a nativity Christmas stocking and fell in love with it. I had neither the need for a stocking nor the time to do it, but I bought it and brought it home. Sheepishly I showed it to Doug. He looked at me, smart man that he is, and said something like, "If I was there, I would have insisted that you get that." It makes it's debut this year.
My favorite nativity is a piece of Lladro that we bought in Malaga, Spain called Flight into Egypt. Fanciful as it is, I love the idea of movement shown in Mary's cape as well as the haste and concern evidenced in their mission to protect the Child even with such limited resources.
When the girls were young and we lived near our extended families, we got together with Doug's family on Christmas Eve. His mother was a wonderful cook and not a whit lacking in presentation. Afterwards, Aunt Lori always dressed the little kids up to showcase the nativity...
...then the adults would take turns sharing their feeling about the Savior through stories or song or testimony or scripture. And so I close the nativity tour sharing these verses:
But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, ... to redeem them that were under the law...Wherefore thou art an heir of God through Christ...Now we...are the children of promise. (Galatians 4)
For this gift, I am truly grateful.
The nativity tour not only reminds me of special places that I have been, but it also reminds me of some of the special people in my life. I have been gifted a number of my nativities.
This one was from my friend, Vickie Andersen. She was my first married friend. We moved to Ontario, California, where I didn't know a soul. She had three children approximately the same ages as mine. I really wanted a friend. I tried and tried to be friends with her and finally gave up thinking that she just didn't need or want me for her friend. And then she started calling me. We were both young and poor. We babysat for each other on the weekends so that we could have a night out with our spouses and not have to pay for a sitter.
The next nativity came from one of my ESOL students. When I remember her name, I'll come back here. She was embarrassed to give me this gift because it was not like what the other students gave the teacher for Christmas. When I told her that I loved it and that I collected nativities, she had the biggest smile that you ever saw. I really love the coloring on this Holy Family.
Mary Gronlund saw this nativity on a family vacation. She gave it to me for my birthday this year. I think it is amazing how Mary and Joseph and Jesus are portrayed inside this crystal. A couple of years ago she took me to see "ICE" at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando. This also reminds me of that experience and the gigantic nativity that we saw carved in ice.
When Doug's parents moved into the Alzheimer facility, he and his brothers divided up the belongings that they would not be taking with them. Doug brought me back this ornament from his family tree.
The final nativity is from my friend, Sandy Teeples. She is the first teacher that I personally knew that did a job share. We both taught second grade so we used to share ideas when we were both working full time. We also worked together in our ward in Claremont, California. But one of my favorite memories of her is when I was in the throws of a miscarriage. She showed up at my house unannounced one day with fresh strawberries and cream. She stood at my sink hulling and washing the berries. For some reason that was just the perfect thing. She is going through a difficult time now. I wish that I could do some strawberry cleaning for her.
Claremont, California
One Christmas break when we were living in the UK, we went to Germany. I had read about German pewter military figures that had been popular since the 1700's and about a store that still produced the figures. I had a hunch they might also make something that I personally was more interested in. I remember that it was late one day, and no one but me was interested in making one more stop. When we pulled up to Knesebeckstrasse 88, Berlin, Doug told me just to hop out and have a look. I saw this nativity in the window. It was designed by Werner Scholtz's wife in 1955, and it seems as if it has been in production ever since. The set I bought 15 or more years ago can still be purchased today although it costs quite a bit more. At the time, the price also gave me pause. So I went back to the car and asked Doug what he thought. The whole family rallied and we spent the next little while in the shop looking at their interesting wares. 
The figures are very small, just an inch or two tall. The detailing is exquisite front and back.
In the same shop, I also purchased a nativity ornament.
When we lived in south Florida, I became friends with two Mexican women that were the wives of Doug's co-workers. They were both artistically talented and incredibly generous women. We got together weekly at one point in our lives. One year AnaMaria Villegas gave me a most unique nativity. A thread-like substance is dipped in liquid silver and then the figures are intricately designed and left to cool. I don't know what the process is called, but I understood from her that the artisans that even know how to do it these days are very rare. 
Each of the figures would be worth a close-up picture. 
My other friend, Rosi Ennis, invited us to come and stay with their family in Mexico for a summer holiday. She is an art historian. She planned everyday so that we would get the history of Mexico in chronological order, starting with the pyramids and ending with the artist's mecca, San Miguel del Allende. It was there that we got these hand-painted figures.
Rosi gave me a couple of nativities over the years, including this one on the left that can almost fit under my 1/4 measuring cup.
...and this one on the right that is only marginally bigger.
I got this nativity at a flea market.
The second leg of the nativity tour begins right here in Central 
One day while touring Epcot, I saw an artisan making these silhouettes sans the wiseman. I asked him about it and he told me that he would be adding a piece each
Orlando, Florida
year. I bought the set and the following year, I emailed him about the wiseman. A few weeks later I received the wiseman in the mail free of charge. He told me that he had forgotten his intention and thanked me for reminding him by gifting the wiseman to me.
In Argentina there is a small little town not far from where we lived in San Isidro. Many weekends there was a small street fair on the riverbanks. Local artisans sold their wares as well as handcrafted items from around the country. This is a small puzzle screen of various woods.
Tigre, Argentina
In 2005, our family went to visit Doug's brother, Kyle and his family when they were doing an assignment for the military in Anchorage. They recommended that we spend some time fishing. We had a very rocky day at sea. I wonder that I lived to tell the tale. But, Doug pulled out enough halibut to fill the quota for himself as well as Brianna and I. Later, I found this igloo nativity in a small store on "The Spit."
Melanie started giving me the pieces to the Willow Tree nativity for my birthday when she lived in Utah. When I visited her, she showed me the stable piece that a local person had designed. The Willow Tree group ended up selling a much different kind of piece the following year, which is great, but I have always loved the one I got. It is up high on top of my television hutch, so it was hard to get a good picture of it.
Christmas 1976 was our first married Christmas. We lived in a small apartment in Fullerton, California. We were saving money for a down payment on a house, and Doug talked me into foregoing a Christmas tree since both of our families lived within an hours drive and we were spending the holiday between the two of them. As we got closer to Christmas, I ached for a tree. Just a little one, a very inexpensive one. Then one afternoon I saw a tree for $3 at the grocery store. It was about 3 feet tall and I could imagine popping and stringing popcorn for the decorations.
I brought it home, and we even got a strand of lights for it. One evening Doug's family came to visit us. How his brothers laughed at our "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree! But it only made me love it more.
Another evening we decided to go to a Christmas craft fair at the convention center in Los Angeles. It was huge. We walked around for hours and then Doug said that we should choose just one thing to commemorate our first Christmas. But he let me choose
...and that was the beginning of a lifelong collection of nativities.
When we lived in England, I went on a field trip with Cherylyn's class to the V & A Museum in London one day early in December. I saw a nativity that I thought was just beautiful. Anyway, I didn't buy it, and I went home and thought about it and truly regretted my decision. A couple of weeks later, Melanie and I went to London for one of her regular orthodontics appointments. The dentist's office was not far from the museum so afterwards, we went to the gift shoppe. I was surprised and delighted!
I don't know how they made the clothes so that the fabric has been stiff all these years.When I unpack it, I think of those trips the two of us made together on the train. A dentist appointment was almost a whole day affair in any scenario, so we often took little side trips like this one together.
I was invited to a Rock Concert by DirecTV. Christmas comes in the summertime in South America and one afternoon we walked around a street fair in Rio.
I saw this amazing nativity made entirely of shells. I couldn't imagine how I would ever get it home without breaking it. However, my husband is a master packer and carrier...luckily for me.
Mostly, Doug traveled without me. Sometimes he brought home local crafts, and this is one of my favorites. It is made entirely of clay. All of the tiny pieces are very intricate. I keep it out all year.
Miguel Angel Vargas Munoz is the artist.
Sometimes when the girls and I would travel to the northern part of England to do genealogy, we would take day trips away from Doncaster, which was where we always stayed, and visit some of the places where our research was leading us. I got this in a gift shoppe on one of those adventures. I think it was in Hull.
The manger has disappeared and the backdrop is falling apart, but I love the memories associated with this piece and can't bear to give it up...even though it was actually made in China.
Do you have theme days?
I do.
I have lucky days. I have please be mean to me days. I have I can't get anything done no matter how hard I try days. I have I am being annoying even though I am not trying to be days. Very occasionally I will have funny days. And today I had a gone missing day.
Highlights of my day:
I wore my coat to the grocery store and home. Then ten minutes later when I went to leave again...no coat. I looked all over the place for it. I even looked in the car for it when I knew FOR A FACT that I had worn it into the house. I couldn't find it so I finally grabbed another coat and went. I did not yet know that it was gone missing day, although I should have because I was on my way to the airport to drop off my mom and I was planning on listening to our book club book, Cold Sassy Tree, in the car on the way home and I had already misplaced that twice this morning.
I got in the car. No Cold Sassy Tree. Stopped in the circle at the front of the house. Went back in. Had no idea where to look for it. But fortunately, Brianna found it for me and Finally! we were on our way.
At the airport, I pulled the CD out of the case and listened to disc 2 all the way home.
At home, I decided to make a turkey. I looked everywhere for my baster. No baster. I basted my turkey EVERY 15 MINUTES just like the Joy of Cooking book admonishes WITH A SPOON! And just before the turkey was done, I opened my silverware drawer and there was the turkey baster in plain sight. My turkey got one baste with it.
After lunch/dinner...I should pause here to say that I don't normally make turkey dinner for lunch, but I guess I was also missing my mind when I figured out that if I put the turkey in at 12 it would be done at 5. Because that only happens if I have a big, stuffed turkey, which I didn't. Brianna and I had our lunch/dinner at 2.30 and Doug got leftovers at 5.30.
Carrying on...After lunch/dinner, I took Brianna to WalMart to run in and get something I needed but didn't buy earlier for YW tonight. I was in the car listening to the rest of disc 2 when it ended. But the CD case was no longer in the car. Anywhere. And I couldn't find it when I got home. Anywhere. So that is when I decided to post a blog that if anyone was going to the Orlando Airport to the Delta drop-off and saw Cold Sassy Tree on CDs laying in the road, could you please pick it up for me or else I am going to owe the library a lot of money.
But then I found it later--on the stairs. Oh yeah, and Brianna also found my coat--next to the couch, on the floor.
I am hoping tomorrow is my class is awesome day and I am not even tired when I get home from work day
so that I can start decorating my house
because right now all the Christmasy festiveness of the house
is missing.
But I do know where it is, I think.
