It is Christmas, and time to put up the Nativity. I have it for a very long time now. It came with us all the way from what used to be Belgian Congo.
I was in grade two when one day in December, Mom and Dad drove us to the vast and manicured compound of the Lycée du Sacré Cœur de Kalina, the school I was attending and dropped my little sister and me in front of a driveway on the side of the buildings holding the classrooms. Wearing the same little dresses, holding my little sister’s hand and the money in the other hand, we walked to the school office as proud as proud could be and came back with this Nativity in a nice little cardboard suitcase. The tallest figurines were 7 cm high (or 2″ 3/4). Being the oldest of four girls and the first to get married, I succeeded at inheriting that little Nativity. It came with us from Congo, following us in Canada from coast to coast to coast. Continue reading →