Dear Reader:

When I woke up yesterday I was so happy….it was the only day this whole week that I didn’t have a medical appointment to have to get dressed for.. and out the door. Alleluia Alleluia…. Alleluia…A l l e l u i a!

And besides…it was going to be a wonderful, fun day! First…Anne and I meet at Oscars once a month for an “Eat badly and Enjoy Every Bite” lunch…and yesterday was our appointed time.  Anne got a cheeseburger and fries…while I got a bowl of clam chowder, and a pulled pork sandwich with fries….life is so good!

This new “How you gonna keep’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree” friend of mine is leaving me speechless each time we meet these days. Anne informed me that she is now taking “fiddle” lessons every Wednesday so she can return to one of the Irish pubs we frequented (last summer) and play for the crowd. She even imitated her moment of future glory for me while dining!

Play that invisible fiddle my friend!

Then Tommy called and said that (Thursday) afternoon would suit him to go get the Christmas tree at Lowe’s. I was too excited….I was ‘loving on this day!’

While waiting on him to come I realized I had time to run over to Honey’s to buy some pottery since I am keeping Rutledge this weekend and can’t make the actual Christmas Pottery Extravaganza Saturday.

…And this is what led me to our title blog caption. I needed some more “Mountain Mangers” to give as presents this Christmas. For you long time readers…you may remember the story behind this beautiful piece of pottery design Honey created a few years ago.

I keep forgetting that our new readers (thank you for joining us so much) don’t have a way to look at the history of how or why this blog got started, or the contest with Scheherazade, or even mountain mangers. Four years of stories are no longer available for public viewing.  All the stories are stored in a private folder somewhere in cyber space I think.

So it is time to stop and step back in time to help our new readers catch up with some of the “benchmark” stories that have taken us to where we are today.

 I decided to start with the Christmas seasonal “Mountain Mangers” story. Honey attends workshops on pottery constantly to learn new ways to sculpt and mold. From out of one of these workshops she learned how to take some clay and mold Joseph, Mary, and Jesus… all from one piece.

She began practicing and practicing…but for some inexplicable reason…after she  molded Joseph, then Mary( leaving enough clay to complete the baby Jesus) and left them by the kiln to dry…she recognized a strange pattern developing.

As she formed the clay figurines…Joseph and Mary were ramrod straight…gazing off into the distance. But every time she went to check on the mountain mangers… (before putting them in the kiln)…Joseph and Mary were bent over…staring down at the Christ Child. It continued to happen over and over.

 At first Honey was simply puzzled…looking at it as a sculptural design mistake. Finally, however, it dawned on her what was really happening…she now saw the “problem” through different eyes…not a mistake…but a blessing.  (Joseph and Mary would not have been looking outward…but downward at the Son of God…the Savior of mankind.)

I had chills when she first told me the story behind the artistic creation of the “mountain mangers.” In fact I was so moved…I sat down and wrote a poem about the incident…in five minutes. I later told Honey I have never written a poem that quickly…without having to revise it again and again.

The strange incident with the clay combined with the strange incident with writing the poem…makes the story even more powerful. Here is the poem I wrote three years ago.

“Mountain Manger”

Once atop a mountain

A lone potter sat

Molding clay beneath her hands

From colors…of this and that.

First she made a tall figure

Joseph was his name

Then slowly Mary was molded

Smaller…but just the same.

The potter then stopped and paused

And took a deep, deep breath

As a small shape began to form

From the clay that was left.

The clay made a little mound

Formed in a tiny stall

Baby Jesus was created

The most loved sculpture of all.

And as the potter watched

In amazement and silent awe

Joseph and Mary began to bow

Towards the baby bright and small

Again and again it happened

The parents would always bend

In reverence to the Christ-Child

The Beginning and the End.

……………………………………………………………….

Honey has made several “mountain mangers” for this year’s Christmas Pottery Sale…  My poem is available (for free) in hard copy when you purchase this treasure of a “sculpted story.” What a great Christmas gift it is! (So don’t forget to come… Saturday morning, Dec 6, from 9-4…111 Ayers Circle…Salisbury Acres, Summerville, SC/ (Tel: 843-870-9698)

I had been home only a few minutes from Honey’s… when Tommy called…he had borrowed his dad’s truck and would meet me at Lowe’s. I arrived first and started looking at trees…by the time Tommy got there…we had picked the same tree instantaneously.

We were the only tree customers…what are the odds of that at this time of year? The tree was shaken and the limbs at  the bottom of the tree removed so we could get it in the tree holder…with no sawing.

Everything was going like clock-work. Tommy and I were speculating that this was the best tree experience yet. The tree stood straight…hardly shed at all…and Tommy got the lights on in record time. We kept congratulating ourselves on this “Martha Stewart” moment of perfection.

“Pride goeth before the fall”…or in our case…”lights shineth everywhere… but in the middle.” It was the strangest thing I had ever seen.

“So close…but yet so far.”  I had to ‘step back’… by driving back… to Rite-Aid and pick up another strand of lights.

Kaitlyn spent last night with me to be closer to an early morning meeting today…and bless her heart…she helped me decorate the tree. We really had fun…and it looks so good!

So until tomorrow…Slowly but surely Christmas is arriving at Boo’s house…but regardless of holidays or ordinary days…we all must be willing to step backward sometimes ….in order to move forward with our lives. To keep the lights (top/middle/bottom) burning inside of us each day that we are blessed to be alive.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Anne…look what I found! You gave me this copy of your Christmas painting last year…it is up near the mantle and looking good!