My favorite Christmas decorations are nativity scenes. The stores are loaded with them. All sorts of styles to choose from.
We have several in our house. Sweetie does a great job with them.
This one below is special to me. It is not the fanciest one we have.
I got it in 1986 right after I moved to Oklahoma City from Dallas. In those days before the internet and Amazon.com you ordered novelty merchandise out of catalogs. Remember all the catalogs from those days? Lands End, and Eddie Bauer were just the beginning. Anyway my secretary, whom I’ll call Frances, was the catalog queen in the office. She’d find something cool and several people would order it. Anyway she found this nativity scene and several of us in the office ordered one. I don’t know why I did, I was single and didn’t decorate for Christmas but I liked it.
Lake Hefner (Copyright © 2010 by Laura Anne Heller used by Creative Commons License on Flickr)
A subsequent summer Frances drowned after falling off a sailboat during a midnight cruise on Lake Hefner with her new boyfriend. She wasn’t wearing a life jacket and didn’t know how to swim. It being at night the guy couldn’t see her and a sailboat is not the most maneuverable thing around. They didn’t find her body until the sun came up the subsequent morning.
It was a real mess. She had left her long time boyfriend of many years a few weeks before. But he was still the beneficiary of her life insurance, 401K, all that stuff. It was a real heart breaker. He got it all and he kept it all and I dealt with both him and her family through the whole process. It was a sad and stressful time, for a long time, for everybody who knew her.
We were kind of a tight knit little group and the loss and chaos afterward hit us hard. This was in the midst of the mid 1980’s oil bust that knocked all of Oklahoma for a loop. It seemed that things were never going to get better but eventually of course they did.
Christmas is many things to many people and to me a big part of it is remembering Christmases past especially people who are gone. I always think of Frances at Christmas and how things often don’t turn out the way we plan and that life is fragile. I also learned that people are resilient and although they may never forget something somehow they get through it.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NIV)
And of course I learned that you need to keep your beneficiaries current on your life insurance, 401K’s, and such to help out the people you leave behind because you really don’t know when something is going to happen to you.
I’m linking up with That’s Baloney today for her perfect pairing day.
I love Santas… everywhere!
Gosh Yogi, what a story. Very sad. I have always wanted a manger scene and for some reason have never found one I like.
Love the nativities. Christmas is bittersweet for us, with several December deaths in the family.
An Arkies Musings
A sad story and surely makes for a sad Christmas for families who have lost loved ones. I’m quite sure Christmas will never be quite the same for my children after this one. I’m just glad we had so many wonderful, joyful Christmases when they were growing up. Have a beautiful day and make the most of every minute.
Sylvia
What a sad story about Frances. I especially like your snowmen. 🙂
A a child I had a nativity scene given to me by friends of my parents. Every year I got a new piece to add and they even build a maneger.
Christmas is a wonderful time to reflect on those we’ve lost. Sorry about your friend.
Merry Christmas to you and family.
Very sad story about your friend Frances. I can see why the nativity scene she ordered brings back a lot of memories.
Some of these images loos really nice for your own crib at home.
Greetings,
Filip
what a bizarro story about Frances. I love how you told it too. I think it’s beautiful that you think of her, and have the nativity scene as a remembrance. what a tragedy that she was not wearing a life jacket. I don’t know how to swim either, and never ever go on a boat without wearing one. my fear of water is one that I have great difficulty overcoming. thanks for sharing your nativities with us Yogi. and thanks too for sharing the touching story about Frances. for some odd reason, I’m going to remember the story of Frances. I think she sounds like a grand character. happy Sunday to you Yogi.
Thanks for linking up. What a story – how sad.
My folks gave us our nativity and they add pieces to it every year. We love it!
Those are beautiful creches. That is a sad story about Frances. What a bummer about the insurance paperwork and the guy who kept the money. She must have been a sweet person.
God bless.
WHOA! That’s a scary story about Frances and an excellent reminder to keep our wishes current.
Interesting how something like a creche reminds us of Christmases past…and not just the original one.
I think it’s wonderful that you remember Frances every year. It’s a reminder of how precious life is.
I have to say something about you not decorating when you were single. I remember many Christmases at your house and there were decorations and real Christmas trees. I know Sweetie does a much nicer job of decorating though.
My ex has all my family Christmas things of course. Such as I have now are things I have accumulated since then. Some belongs to my new wife Susan and things that mean something to us. We got a beautiful Creche ata St Dunstuns several years ago that I have posted before but I may post it again. Hey, ’tis the season. Merry Christmas.’