Epiphany-2013

Epiphany is here...the visit of the Wise Men to the babe...and in our family, that means its time to put away the Christmas decorations for another year.  There are some treasures in our home--ones that carry a lot of sentimental value, and I love to think about them as I unpack and pack them away.  Now I want to share the story of this Holy Family set.  This is white porcelain created by Goebel in West Germany.  It belonged to Jerry's parents, and when his Mom died in 1981, we inherited it for our Christmas decorations--but we only had Mary and Joseph--no babe in a manger.  However, we faithfully set out Mary & Joseph each year, hoping some day the babe would reappear!  Jerry's Dad died in 1996, and we returned to Crane MO to clear out the family home and have an estate auction.  I told the auctioneer and his wife about the missing baby Jesus, what it looked like and asked them to keep an eye out for it during the sale, but I wasn't very optimistic because there was a LOT of stuff on those tables.  When we returned at the end of the sale, the auctioneer's wife said "I have something for you" and handed me the babe in the manger!  Oh joy!  Jerry's Mom was a china painter with her own kiln, and for some reason, the Babe was in the file drawer with other pieces of china and greenware his Mom had accumulated. We rejoice that the Holy Family is together again!  May you have a blessed Epiphany!