It's hard to believe that Christmas is not far away. Children are starting to return to school, summer flowers are fading and the weeds continue to show me who's boss. Halloween decorations are beginning to pop up in stores and there are fabulous end-of-summer sales. My 2 daughters are grown now with children of their own and my husband passed away several years ago but we had lots of holiday traditions when the girls were growing up. Decorating the inside and outside (always trying to beat the snow and really cold weather) of the house and buying the perfect Christmas tree. The girls especially liked putting up the nativity scene. It was always carefully wrapped and stored at the end of the previous holiday season and part of the fun before unwrapping each figurine was trying to figure out who or what each one was through the paper.
About 2-3 weeks before Christma, we would decorate the inside of the house. From a young age, my daughters did the nativity scene display. Each of the girls had their favorite people and animals that they liked to put into the scene so we ended up having 2 nativity sets. That way each girl could design theirs the way they wanted.
A week before Christmas , my husband and daughters would hunt for the perfect tree. They would go to tree farms and spend several hours looking for the ideal tree. Bad weather was never a deterrent for this hardy group.
The tradition of the nativity is now being carried out by my grandchildren who have the original sets my girls so lovingly set up year after year.
