THAT WHICH WAS LOST...

...is now found!  

Having decided that 1st December was a good day to put up the tree and get out the Nativity Set, Mr. HCB got everything down from the spare bedroom.  You may remember that we just carry the tree upstairs complete with lights and baubles, so it means we don’t have to untangle the lights to put them on the tree but just bring the whole thing back downstairs on 1st December!  

With the tree in place, I then got out our 54 year old Nativity Set - given to us the first Christmas we were married by Mr. HCB’s parents, which no doubt will be blipped before Christmas is over.  As we got everything out of the boxes, we reminisced about how we used to put this up with our grandson, Harry, when he was much younger.  Funnily enough, he rang whilst we we were doing this so we told him we had been thinking back to those days when we did it together and how we missed him doing it with us;  he said that he remembered and said how much he had enjoyed doing it with us.

The angels surrounding the Nativity Set were bought in Singapore when we visited there for our Silver Wedding Anniversary, and the backdrop for the Nativity set and the angels are different cards we have received over many years, so lots of memories attached to them and often from friends who are no longer with us.

However, having searched through all the boxes, I couldn’t find the angel to go on top of the tree, which was made at school by our older son when he was about 5 years old.  I was quite upset so Mr. HCB went through all the boxes and bags containing Christmas paraphernalia but with no luck.  By this time I was very upset and said that if we couldn’t find it, then we would have to leave the top of the tree bare!  Sob, sob - and only a woman will understand where I am coming from - Mr. HCB certainly didn’t and just said, “If it’s gone, it’s gone!”

We went back upstairs and looked through all the bags and boxes again, but still no angel UNTIL Mr. HCB said that if I insisted it was in a card, perhaps it was in one of them on the mantelpiece behind the Nativity Set - and there it was!  Oh the joy of finding something very precious, made out of shiny paper by a 5 year old son, over 45 years ago, which is worthless in monetary value, but beyond price to me - and I’m sure many of you will understand.  

Traditions of Christmas are precious and I am so pleased we found the angel - after all, what is Christmas without an angel bringing good tidings of great joy?

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot 
     about a person by the way 
          (s)he handles these three things: 
a rainy day, 
     lost luggage, 
          and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
Maya Angelou

P.S.  I apologise for not commenting last night, but after going out to our Worship Group Practice and having to drive in the fog, I was quite uptight when I got home but thank you for all your kind comments and welcome for Leighton.