Third Christmas Tradition

This is our manger scene. I know, it doesn't look like much. In that way, it resembles our other Christmas paraphernalia. But...it's special! The actual figures I've had for many years, and I suppose they were given by my mother, or maybe grandmother, long ago. The ones in the stable are plastic. The little shepherds and sheep to the right are ceramic.

But the stable itself: Adam made that from a few scraps of wood. We lived in a 1870s home in central Mississippi at the time, and he was tearing a porch off the house. He used a few pieces of the porch for this creche. We were soon to leave that house, the first home we'd bought, and one we loved dearly. This little barn is like a small chunk of that house that I've been able to carry around all these years. I like the chipping white paint. It resembles the house!