Nativity~circa~1972

Last week I was conversatin' with my sister on the phone:
Tami~so what are you up to today?
Jody Blue~not much, well I am doing something that is going to make you down right jealous.
T~rEALly? Well it had better be pretty good because right now I'm eating a double.. chocolate.. cup cake...and its filled..with chocolate. Can you do better than that?
JB~by a mile, I am setting up THE Nativity set;)
T~(busting out in laughter) You HAVE to blog that!

The story of the B family Nativity
My Mom made it in 1972 in ceramics and when she brought it home, we were in awe, and I don't mean awe like in awful I mean real awe, it was so pretty and she had worked hard on it. She had talked about it for weeks. Once the Christmas tree was up my brother Rock and I would set the Nativity up under the Christmas tree. Some years we would find a cardboard box for a stable. We would poke a hole in the back and fish a Christmas tree light to shine upon the baby Jesus. Some years they went with out a cardboard stable. Mom had always wanted to have someone build a wooden stable, but that never came to pass. We always put the Babe in last(I'm sure there was more than one fight on who's turn it was to actually place the Babe in the manger). We always referred to it as "the Nativity set". One year when I had just a couple of kids and I knew she hadn't used it for awhile I asked if I could use it. Now to be fair I have offered it on more than one occasion to each one of my siblings to have it so their children could experience the joy...they have all declined. So my kids have taken turns setting it up year after year. They always remembered who did it the last year, but that's usually after a bit of a dust up had taken place. They always save the baby Jesus to be put in the manger last. They have also been known to move it around to their own personal interpretation of how the Blessed event actually took place, and that has caused REALLY big dust ups! This year with just two boys left at home I decided to take a turn, for old time sake.

I had a chuckle the when I first brought it to our home over 20 years ago and realized that it was not historically accurate. The shepherds dressed in lime green and orange just make me smile and Joseph would have never been able to afford a red robe, on and on. Us B kids had no clue and were so impressed that all of the wise men royal robes matched their own personal camel blankets. I was always a bit star struck over the golden angel, and it can still be a challenge to find the right place to hang her, as it was when we were kids. Notice no stable, and I have no plans to provide one, some year I may find them a nice cardboard box.

The cow has a crescent moon on it and the B family initial on its behind...or maybe Mom was just labeling its B-hind:)

That poor sheep has lost both ears and some of the camels are missing tails. The little donkey was not a part of the set Mom made. It was one of the very few things that had been recovered when our house burned in Jan 1970. Mom had repainted him and added him in. My kids have since named him Madrikh after a Little Golden Book story The Christmas Donkey. When he comes out of the box I remind them that he has been threw the fire twice(I know there's a spiritual lesson in there some where!) so they have to be oh so careful with him.

The kneeling boy has a blue goats hair tunic and coordinating baby blue under garment and head band. I have always loved the color and texture of that sheep, he's probably as close to accurate as he can be for ceramics made in America in 1972.

The baby Jesus is missing part of one hand. There is usually a discusion on which way He should be placed. Grace says facing His Mama, the boys say Mary shared him with the world so he should be facing so we all can see him. Him and the manger are moved often threw out the Christmas season.

Although the Bible does not actually name the wise men, in a myth dating back to the medieval days says their names were , Melchoir, Gaspar and...no not Balthasar...

...BUG EYES!?!
No matter how my Mom tried and had others try they just couldn't get his eyes right. We have always very affectionately referred to him as Bug Eyes. We would say that of course his eyes are bugging he just saw the baby Jesus for the first time. Let me tell you its not just his eyes that has had issues. The poor guys head was broken off with in the first couple of years. And try as we might Rock and I could not get that thing to stay on. Elmers school glue just wouldn't hold, nor would super glue, so we stuffed a pencil down his broken throat and put his head back on. But his head wobbled so we wrapped a kleenex around the pencil and that held as well as could be expected, yet with a noticeable wobble. Things are looking up for 'ol Bug Eyes, when I started working at the local high school I took ol' Bug Eye's in to the art teacher and he glued his head back on and it has stuck for about 9 years now. He does still bear the scar and I don't know if the pencil and kleenex are still in his neck, I could look up the hole on the bottom but I'd hate to embarrass him, he has already been threw so much. He is loved though, and every year when I remind my two brothers and sister that I set up "THE Nativity set" they always ask how ol' Bug Eye's is doing;)

Making Sauerkraut...and Memories

Making sauerkraut is a tradition that we started when Jon inherited his family kraut cutter. It is really old, but works great, Jon keeps it well maintained. We make it most every year. Once in a while we skip a year, like when Jon thinks its a good idea to fill the 20 gallon crock to the top, and we have more than enough to last. The first year we made it we cut the cabbage in the dining room, I'm here to tell you that was not~nor will it ever be repeated, what a mess! We make it Labor Day weekend.

We bought cabbage from a local family owned garden. Ours did not do well in our garden. We used 110 lbs of cabbage.

Jon and Willy tear off the outer leaves, wash, quarter and core the cabbage. Then the cutting starts, everyone takes a turn~except for me. Jon and the kids that are home or come home for the event took turns doing the different stages at different times. For the sake of orderliness I put the pictures in the order of operation not how they actually happened so you can get a good idea of how the system works.

Avery did the lions share of the cutting this year.Grace at the cutter.J.J. vocalizing as he cuts. I was a bit creeped out having him be shirtless, then Jon reminded me that back in the old days they stomped it with their feet and the fermentation would kill anything anyway so take a chill pill:)My next concern was how low Willy put his arm when he was at the cutter, this one Jonny sided with me. Jon was really the last to cut, he's good at using up the last of the cabbage and not shaving off pieces of the oak presser. When one of the kids do shave off some oak presser board into the cabbage they just use the "it adds flavor" line.This honestly was about all I did. I just wanted to have my hands in it a little, so Willy let me give him a weighing lesson. We weigh out 5 lbs of cabbage.And then I direct the sprinkling in of 3 tablespoons of canning salt. That really was all I did, well almost, I went and laid on the couch for awhile and some kid with the camera came in and took a picture of me, and reminded me "this is a memory too"!Grace was the mixer in charge, she does a good job of getting the salt and cabbage all incorporated well. She also does a good job of keeping the boys in check when they take over for her while she was off dabbling in other jobs. J.J. stomping...with his shirt on:) We let it get about 4 inches of cabbage on the bottom before the stomping starts, you could break or crack the crock if your not careful. We don't stomp to hard, just enough to bruise the cabbage and create a nice amount of juice.Once it is all stomped, with a nice amount of juice coming up, we tuck in 2 Curity cotton diapers, not the pre-folded kind. We learned the best way to keep it covered is to fill and industrial garbage bag with about 3 gallons of water and then tie strap it shut. Its done when its done, it all depends on the weather. We keep the crock in the garage where it is cool and it cures a bit slower, we think that helps keep it crisp. I'll let you know when its done. Then comes the job of canning all of it...and making more memories.