One frosty morning in late November, my mother-in-law set off on a holy journey to find Jesus. Not a Jesus for her heart, she's already got that one; a Jesus for her yard. She didn't want any of these non-proclaiming, shrunken Protestant Jesus' either; she was bringing home a full sized Savior.
She left the house, I imagine, with the same determination and fortitude that always accompanies a woman with a purse full of coupons. Now, let me stop here and say that my MIL is one of the women I admire most in my life; besides teaching me that you don't have to be blood to be family, she has taught me the value of perseverance and of going after the things you want. That in mind, I had no doubt that when she said she intended to come home with a heavily discounted, completely assembled, full size Jesus, that madame, she was going to do exactly that.
Imagine her disappointment when she not only ended up with a Jesus
half his actual size, but no manger in which to house our plastic Lord!
Through a series of events that are probably too complicated to recreate here, my MIL ultimately decided that the only way she was leaving with half the God she came for was if He came at a really attractive price. Somewhere during those negotiations she agreed to give up His manger. Enter Larry.
My father-in-law has finally, in his retirement, been able to give his time to an activity at which he is wonderful, and one which he truly enjoys- home remodeling. He's aces at carpentry - hell, the man owns a lathe - and an expert at all those general handy man services invaluable to those of us who have, say, broken 7 toilet seats in 5 years. That is why, when half sized Jesus found himself without a home, naturally it fell to Larry to build one.
Unsurprisingly it was his smart mouthed third born who pointed out that, "You know Pops, Sweet Baby Jesus was a carpenter. He won't appreciate shoddy craftsmanship."(Scott understands that even half sized Jesus sees all). And that is how there came to be an exposed, half sized nativity on my mother-in-law's front lawn. Because my FIL cant simply house the holy family; they need to be housed in
style. That's why he is putting off construction until next season and drawing up plans for what I imagine must be the only actually habitable manger in biblical history. Unfortunately, until renovations are complete the Holy Family will be camping out on the front lawn without a roof (I can only imagine what they'll look like once the first winter storm has given them all tiny snow yarmulkes). And because posts like this are just better with pictures, here you go.
Just to rile up the neighbors I plan to tell anyone who asks that he's actually constructing a guest house and that we're taking reservations for Easter when our sources tell us it should be vacant.
So here it is. I hope it makes you smile, too. Merry Christmas from the family. All of us.
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