Nativities

Such a pause...sadly that is what happens when your computer implodes and saving up for another takes time. The last few post I did off my phone but lets just say posting anything with more words than a text is cumbersome at best and down right frustrating at times. But today my lover left his computer at home and I've finally memorized the password! Yippie!

Today is just a short post, I'm gearing up for our Christmas card post so stay tuned!

I love nativities, between the many of them and the many nutcrackers I have collected over the years you can imagine just how my house is decorated. Most of my nativities have a special memory or story, this one is my favorite. It is a ceramic one from Olivera Street in downtown LA. My mom bought it for me in 2002 when i spotted it in the window of one of the little shops.

Another favorite nativity, completely opposite. This one is plastic, little people that I mail ordered in 2001 for Riley's first Christmas. It is one of my favorites because I love to see the kids all get excited and how they change the positions of all the characters. Riley was always insistent with how it should look, I would put it away at night set up much like my set is at the top and then in the morning he would fix it so that everyone was facing in looking at the baby Jesus. Riley taught Jake and Fern well, that is how it looked for years. But Leili has different ideas and it is always changing. This is how I found it today, a little old school little people and animals from our castle joining the mix!

Tomorrow will be the 120th anniversary of the Nutcracker Ballet first performance in St. Petersburg Russia for the Czar Nickolas on December 18, 1892. As I type this the beautiful strains of Tchaikovsky's ballet are wafting in from the other room, thankfully my kids love it too! Today we took Leili to her first performance of the Nutcracker, or to me more precise the Peanutcracker! The local ballet company does midday performances for school kids, it is condensed, and narrated. Leili was riveted and watched the whole hour long performance and has since told me she wanted to jump on the stage and dance! Last year we went to the full length ballet but left Leili with friends so we were all excited to get to include her this year. Maybe by next year she will be able to sit through the full version! I can hope!