Lambing Season

Day 65: It certainly isn't the first lambing season I've experienced in December, but the three new additions to my flock arrived without peril to life and limb. There was no leaky roof to pool rain in the tarp above my head, only to dump it down my back in a flood while I knelt down beside a ewe who had no idea what to do with her lamb. There were no falling timbers to crack me on the head when my husband's pallet-built sheep shed came apart at the seams. My fingers and toes stayed nicely warm as I opened the gift marked "Happy Solstice," early and at the encouragement of the giver. How she managed to guess the scale correctly from my photo amazed me, but within minutes, two new fat-tail lambs were kneeling in the straw and the ram (the only bobbed tail in the lot) was bellowing at his keepers. Oh, if only all lambing times had been so easy!

Fontanini Nativity Scene

Day 56: It pains me to admit it, but I am guilty of counting my chickens before they were hatched. I was so convinced that something specifically bloggable was going to happen yesterday that I neglected to make my daily post. I'm backdating this one for consistency's sake, and I do hope the Post Office follows through with its portion today.

You might think it's unusual that I, non-Christian and firm unbeliever, would erect a nativity scene. However, like the Bubble Tree, the practice is a holdover from my childhood, and in a way, it honours my father, who was a faithful Catholic. That said, the nativity scene of my childhood disappeared at some point after I left home at age 12 and, unlike the Bubble Tree, was never seen again. It was my husband's choice to gather the figures for a new one when the Fontanini line was introduced. I insisted on sheep, and I wanted Gloria (my favourite when I was a kid), but we couldn't find a satisfactory manger. I built this one, a from-memory clone of the one from my youth. It's been refurbished a few times to add new moss and wood shavings. I wish I could find a few more fat-tailed sheep to add to the herd!