I was thinking about holiday traditions tonight, and we don't really have any yet, but one thing I am going to miss is the tradition of sneaking a wind-up monster into my mom's nativity scene. Many, many years ago, the then Princess Bad Kitty and I returned home from an evening's debauchery to find that my mom had put out the Christmas decorations...including the nativity. It was your standard stylized wooden barn with plastic depictions of your favorite nativity celebs: Mary, Joe, the Sonagod(tm), a collection of sheep, a donkey, a cow, a camel, the Wisemens, and obligatory angel. That thing's been set up in our house every Christmas since before I can remember, but this night we were just messed up enough that I got the idea to put this silly, green plastic wind-up monster that shot sparks out of its open mouth right behind Mary and Joseph. The site of this thing in there made us laugh so hard that we thought we were going to pee ourselves, and then next morning I was soundly chastised for waking the house up at 1am. The best part was it took her several days to find the beast. It then became a tradition every year for me to sneak that critter into the nativity and see how long it would take her to find it. The best year was the one where I had forgotten I put it there, and came home to find it hanged by its non-existent neck on my curtain rod in my bedroom.
Ah well, I don't imagine the decorations will find their way out of their boxes this year. Just as well, I suppose. I have no idea if I even still have that little monster.
Sigh
Marius
6 comments:
My dad's last days were over Christmas and the New Year, and for a few years after I ignored all of our holiday traditions, which consisted primarily of buying a cheap tree and starting in on the pie the day before the family dinner. Then at some point, Christmas wasn't sad anymore. I can't say for sure what made it okay for me. Perhaps it was just time.
If I can make one suggestion: do a tree, with a monster in the Manger, it will do you good.
The year my father died, I painted him a See-thru Christmas Ball with his name on it, which had a big enough hole on top (for the hook) to be able to slip in the bullet that went thru him. I know it's sick, but at the same time, for me, it was the last thing he touched and touched him... It will be his 10th Christmas with us, and knowing its hanging in our tree makes it better, not easier, just better...
You Must. Must. Set up the manger this year. FIND THAT MONSTER. If you can't find that monster, make it an awesome saturday afternoon flea market/thrift store quest with some folks nearest and dearest to you to get the coolest monster EVER to put in the manger. Great story! Thank you.
There is usually an action figure in our nativity scene. It tends to be one of the small G.I. Joes, but one year the Wise Men were replace with some firefighters from a cheap Wal-Mart set, and another year, the sheep were replaced by Hot Wheels.
Here's one Bad Kitty's opinion.
There is so much that is going to be painful for you this year...CLAIM a good memory!
It was something between your Mom and you. And yes, there was the "get that monster out of the manger" deal.....don't you think she secretly had fun looking each time to see if it was there????
Find and put the monster in the manger.
She will see it and laugh, I think.
And hopefully, so will you.
Avoiding feelings makes you weaker.
Be stronger.
Just,you know, let it be :)
Is it my imagination or does Joseph look a bit like our Duke?
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