Clump #10: Make repairs to Christmas ornaments.
This is a story about very small clumps that, when tended to, made a big difference. These ornaments were part of an inexpensive set my husband and I bought when we were first married. Some are falling apart. Every year I say I’ll fix them, but they are not a big priority. Today is the day.
With the help of my trusty glue gun, they can now, again, decorate our tree, and marital bliss is restored (only kidding, that never broke).
The second part of this story is even stickier. When I inherited our creche from my parents, it was in not-so-great shape. My mom didn’t know why I wanted it. It was a cheap set, and she and my dad had gotten a new one. I loved it because it had been there for all our Christmases … I was thrilled to have it. One real problem with it was (I’m sorry if this sounds sacrilegious) the body of Christ was missing. We only had the head. We cushioned it in shredded paper (to represent straw) so that you couldn’t tell. Then came last year. Not even the head of baby Jesus was to be found. It really bothered me, but I knew where to go. The Cob Studio.
The Cob Studio and Cara Graver. Here is the studio Cara built using the Cob method. You can read about it on the studio website, above.
Cara is a potter, and an all-around amazing person. This is the book she used to build her studio. She took seriously the subtitle which says, “You can hand-sculpt your own home.”
Here she is sculpting a baby Jesus for me.
And placing the baby in his manger, with Mary, Joseph, a shepherd and a sheep looking on.
The project caused me to think about Jesus much more than I might have this Christmas season. Less about presents, more present. Cara hadn’t painted or fired the figure yet in this photo, and, as she told me, pottery shrinks a bit in the process. How do you adequately thank someone for a favor such as this?
While Cara worked, I snapped pictures of her magical studio. It is a woodland wonder. Did you ever want to live in a fairy house? I did, and I felt like I had arrived the first time I came here.
At home I took some more pictures. The blurring on this one created a cool wing-like effect.
Cara painted a little halo on top of the baby Jesus figure’s head. With the best intentions, I ran the little figure under some water. I had handled it so much it had gotten a little smudged … and I inadvertently washed off the halo! Good Lord! I am not even going to think of the implications.
I finally ran to the craft store today and bought some gold wire in the jewelry-making section.
And made this halo. If anyone needs to make a halo, please let me know … I have plenty of material.
And all was right with the world again.
Clump A Day 