Begging the forbearance of our Jewish and Muslim readers, and indulgence please. This is one of the two chief Christian celebrations with a very great deal of lore passed down to it after all.
There is also an American version of this but these New Zealander kids are cuter and they're better actors.
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Favorite parts: Gabriel's sunny smile along with his easy gesture indicating just where the Great but Small Wonder was about to happen, the energy of the white star radiating out of waggling and flapping fingertips, and the littlest wiseman who'd spent most of his resource on The Trudge, giving his gift the heave ho.
I enjoyed the creativity and beauty present, accompanied by excellence, order and enough room for the children to charm and shine while following a script that played on the cuteness factor yet invited genuine interest and engagement and delivered the goods.
I've been having my own Unexpected Christmas. Today, as I was driving around doing errands, I was unexpectedly accompanied by the song, "He Came for the Gloooreee!" going through my head. Who saw that coming? It was enough to make me smile!
I also completed the give away of three dozen amaryllis bulbs to people I know, love, receive service or help from, or unexpectedly happen to meet. I've started doing this after my dad died in 1994, as a way of remembering him. After the four of us became adults, he'd make a trip out to the garden store to buy one to give each of us as his special gift and then wrap them using a roll of special paper he also bought by himself (which irritated my mom). I started out buying four and have continued to increase the number each year in order to have some extras to give to those who aren't on the list or expecting them; and they all end up going somewhere, wrapped in paper bought special for the occasion. I like the way they hold tremendous and unexpected beauty contained in an unsightly and unassuming bulb, along with the fact that they are grown on farms in Israel and shipped here. Container ships and airplanes loaded with potential, bearing that which is waiting for light, water and a place to grow to burst into Glory!
What a great idea.
I saw them for years at Sams's Club and never bought one because they're so odd and the whole blooming in winter thing was an unknown. Then when I finally did buy one it was great having it around while it lasted
Although I didn't know what to do with the bulb so that thing died.
But I know from the extra caladium bulbs what great presents they make. Such good presents I'll probably buy more extras next spring and do it again. People were nonplussed, perplexed, apprehensive and ultimately amazed and delighted. And I like that whole range of emotion they evoked.
Setting them up to bloom a 2nd time involves a combination of fertilizer, outdoor light, darkness and coolness that I haven't successfully followed through on and I've since stopped trying to set that up, accepting their blooming momentary grace. The twinge I feel when I return them to the life cycle as compost is similar to the feeling I have when the frost arrives and that which held life and color is gone. Now I consider letting go of the glory to be part of the process.
People were nonplussed, perplexed, apprehensive and ultimately amazed and delighted. And I like that whole range of emotion they evoked.
Yes! They seem to invite a genuine response.
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