Tag Nativities

What Faux Fall Flora Wrought

Michael 6 Comments

We are almost half way through September which means if you haven’t yet, you soon are going to be too late to buy any of the good Halloween decorations. I was thinking about this last weekend when I was taking stock of my meager faux fall flora for my coffee table and front door. I like fall. I like the colors. I like the calmness that seems to fall upon fall mornings. But except for fun size candy bars, I’m not so much into Halloween.

Apparently I didn’t get the memo. Last year Americans spent over $9 million on Halloween decorations. Right around 9,100,000 dollars according to The Balance e-zine. They went on to say that is because it’s an economical holiday and people “are willing to spend money on something if it provides a lot of value. Halloween does that.” I guess they didn’t see the $14 hairy spider at Big Lots. Or maybe they did and their idea of value is different from mine.

FauxFallFloraIf you crunch some numbers and divide this into that, that being how many people claim to celebrate Halloween with more than spiked cider and this being that 9 million figure, you come up with a spend of about $86 per person. I’ve spent that much on a nativity set and I have well over 50 of them. (Really. Some people are into hairy spiders, I’m into nativities. I have them, many complete with wise men, made of clothes pins, cheesecloth, corn husks, ceramic, glass, plastic, straw, bronze, wood (carved, sculpted, machine cut and assembled, hinged, and nested), bronze, stone, steel, marble, paper, wool and rubber, sawn from barn board, and cut out of paper.) It’s what I do for Christmas so I can’t say if you want to eighty-some bucks on Halloween you’re nuts. But if you’re planning on spending eighty-some bucks on Halloween, you’re nuts! Except for the little candy bars. Those are cool.

Anyway…just yesterday I was going through my email and I came across a headline “Ugly Halloween Sweaters Were Made For People Who Are Too Lazy to Dress Up.” Well, I couldn’t pass up that piece of bait and I clicked away. What I discovered is, like ugly Christmas sweaters, the ugly Halloween sweaters really aren’t. This is just my opinion but that opinion is that they are kind of cute. The other thing I discovered is that somebody’s going to have to revise that $86 per person spending estimate. Those sweaters go for about $40 per.

For myself, I’m sticking with the faux fall flora. Maybe I’ll spend my $86 on another manger scene this Christmas.

 

Away in a Manger

Michael Leave a comment

About this time of year some stupid group will start complaining that this town or that city is erecting a crèche or manger scene in front of the municipal building or city hall.  Those poor, uneducated, short-sighted people.  Don’t they understand that the whole reason we have Christmas and Christmas trees, and Christmas cookies, and Christmas sales is because of what happened at the original manger scene?  It’s a very special time marking a very special occasion and those mangers being raised all over the world are our way of saying Happy Birthday to a very special person.  And on top of that, they keep the economy going.

Ok, we admit it started out as a bit more serious topic but as we started exploring the world of nativity scenes we found literally a world of nativity scenes.  We have a little help.  He of We has a collection of over 50 of mangers.  That’s over 50 Holy Families who come out of their storage bins once a year at Christmas decorating time.  When you see something only once a year you really take a good look at it and learn to appreciate what went into making it.  (Think of that crazy uncle you only see at the family reunion picnic.  On the other hand, don’t.)  So this year when the first newscast of the first group of dolts complaining about the first manger being erected in front of a city hall we got to thinking about all those mangers we’ve seen over the years, the beauty in each one, and the story behind every one.

We’ve seen nativities (complete with the ultimate arrival of the wise men) made of clothes pins, cheesecloth, corn husks, ceramic, glass, plastic, straw, bronze, wood (carved, sculpted, machine cut and assembled, hinged, and nested), bronze, stone, steel, marble, paper, wool, and rubber.  We’ve seen them sitting, standing, and hanging.  We’ve seen them in music boxes and as music boxes.  We’ve seen them made into nutcrackers and etched onto glass.  We’ve seen them cut from barn board and cut out of paper.  We’ve seen them from matchbox size to life size.  We’ve even seen an inflatable version.  We have them made in America, Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, Germany, Italy, France, and Hong Kong.  He of We even has one that was made in Bethlehem.

When there are that many versions celebrating a single point of time it’s very hard to argue that the event must be pretty special.  Clearly somebody wants every culture, every nation, every class, every society to feel comfortable sharing time and space with a very special Family.  We figure those people who object to a crèche displayed in public just haven’t found their personal favorite yet. 

Whether sharing a front yard with an inflatable snow globe and Santa popping out of a chimney or taking a place of honor under the tree, the beauty of all those different materials made by all those different hands tells the story of love, patience, and decency.  What a great way to keep our economy going!   

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?