Gazebo in progress

[dancerjodi]

Remember when I mentioned I was going to make my grandmother a mini gazebo http://www.livejournal.com/users/dancer/2005/11/09/ ? Last night, Brian carved the sides out of the bird feeder that I had picked up a month or so ago (to make it open and gazebo-like) and I spent some time glueing things onto it when I got home from work today. I'll finish after I get some assistance from Brian with the lights (we have a regular house-sized length strand from Target that's got teeny bulbs that we need to cut shorter) and I'll post some pics later when the whole thing is done.

Collecting the supplies wasn't difficult, but I had a difficult time at first finding a proper nativity for the inside. Gram's gazebo in her back yard had a white light up set of figures: Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus (Gram would never just call him "Jesus" if she was referring to The Nativity). I had to find something small enough to fit into the small bird feeder that would reliably glue down and I was hoping to find something that looked similar to her larger 2' set. I bought something temporary that wasn't so great, but the Tiggerette in her quest to find old Xmas things to contribute found the perfect thing. At some point her Mom gave her a mini Nativity set in a sandwich-sized ziplock bag that she got who knows where. They were an antiquey looking off-white color and the perfect size. The Tiggerette was happy to donate to the cause since she wasn't planning on doing anything with them, and I was so thrilled!

Well you know what else I learned about 10 minutes ago when applying glue to the bottom of baby Jesus? Those suckers were made in Italy! As in the country my Gram's family is from. As in the one she's very proud of. As in the one that produced the massive tabletop sized nativity set she used to put up in the dining room (years ago my Aunt bought it for her a piece at a time, they were selling them week by week at Woolworths when my Aunt was in high school or something). I couldn't have found a more perfect baby jesus to put into that silly birdfeeder/surrogate gazebo! Seriously, I'm all teary and everything!

Tomorrow night we'll be going to visit Gram at the nursing home directly from work with my parents for a short while, since they are having a holiday open house of sorts. I hope she likes it (and I hope to remember to bring a camera too so that I can get a picture of her with it, despite her older and more frail state now).

Comments

So cool

[dee-cee.livejournal.com]

I cannot wait to see the pics of this gazebo. I think the whole idea just rocks.

And, a nativity story: When I was in high school, I was visiting a friend's house around the holidays, and her mother had finished putting up their nativity and creche. I noticed a piece was missing, and I pointed out to her.

"That's because Baby Jesus wasn't born yet!!!!" She hollered at me, like I was a heathen for not knowing you don't put the porcelain representation of the Christ Child out before midnight, Dec. 25th.

[futurenurselady.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

I am sure the look on her face when she sees it will be a thing of beauty, and more than worth the effort.

Re: So cool

[dancer.livejournal.com]

" "That's because Baby Jesus wasn't born yet!!!!" She hollered at me, like I was a heathen for not knowing you don't put the porcelain representation of the Christ Child out before midnight, Dec. 25th."

That's what my Gram did in the house (outside though, she wanted the display complete for some reason) . . .