Wistful Wednesday : Christmas 1991

We lived at the lake in 1991. ( Just a half a mile from where we live now.)  I was running the resort and Far Guy was commuting 180 miles every day…90 miles in the morning and 90 miles at night.  He went through a couple of cars.

Jennifer was a Sophomore in High School and Trica was in her second year at Moorhead State University.   We had quite a menagerie of animals…a goat, horses, rabbits, cats and dogs.

Me with Captain and Moses, Jennifer with Misty and G’Day Mate, Far Guy, Trica with Caramel.   We had at least one other cat named Shadow and possibly one called Snowballs Chance in Hell…Snowball or Snowy for short. (We were his hospice home for two years.)

The tree was a little short that year…I think it might have been a fake tree…as I was tired of pine pitch and needles and a fire hazard in the house.

Back then we were both on the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department and on Boards at Church, we were so busy.   Sometimes I wonder how we did it all, but we were younger then!

I am not sure who took this photo, it was most likely taken the day after Christmas…the photographer might have been Richard ( to be son in law.)  I know he was around then because Caramel was a gift to Trica from him.  Edit: Some other boyfriend named Kelly gave her Caramel. She already had a cat named Shadow from a former boyfriend…good thing she didn’t have too many more boyfriends.
 

Wistful Wednesday: 1991 Live Nativity

Back in 1991 Far Guy and I were both on the Evangelism Committee at the church.  As a community outreach program I spearheaded a Live Nativity.   A crèche was built  and set up on the church lawn  snow bank.  I asked the congregation to donate fabrics, we bought some patterns and a few ladies sewed costumes.  My mother and Naomi sewed a lot that year…costumes for shepherds, kings and angels all sizes.  The congregation was asked to bring cookies and the bell choir played while you had cookies and coffee in the social hall.

This was the crèche indoors.  Groups of people were guided through and sang a verse or two of a Christmas carol at each “station.”  It helped to have choir members be leaders!  I don’t recall how many stations we had..Mary getting the news, shepherds watching their flocks by night, Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, the Kings and the manger scene…and there may have been more.

Outside we had shepherds and Mary and Joseph in the crèche.  It was cold outside. Sometimes we would sing to keep warm. Cars would honk and people would drive by slowly...the church is right along the highway. 

It was a fun event.  The next year we had some sheep and a calf outside.  AND an Llama and all four of our Shelties inside..as the shepherds needed sheepdogs!

Far Guy and I were shepherds both years.   Trica played with the bell choir.  Jennifer filled in wherever I needed her…I think she was a Mary one year. ( I am getting older and cannot remember everything.)

Far Guy makes a fine looking shepherd… he is drinking coffee.

I think we did The Live Nativity for three years improving as it went along.  People would talk about it and look forward to it.  I always felt good about it…doing something to bring the Christmas Story and the birth of our Savior front and center where it belongs at Christmas time.

Have you every been to a Live Nativity? 

This is Christmas 1991, Me holding Captain and Moses, Jennifer holding Misty and G’Day Mate is escaping, Trica holding Caramel one of four cats we had back then and the Far Guy in the back.  I still have that same Angel on top of our tree!  ( Misty and Moses were the parents of Captain and G’Day Mate). Jennifer would have been 16 that year and Trica 19. We lived at the resort back then..that striped carpet was something else…but it matched everything.  That house was something else too…but we had some good times there and it was a good place to raise teenage daughters.

Doing something as a group…a family activity like the Live Nativity was a good thing.  I am not certain how fondly the girls remember it…but they were supportive and showed up to do their part.