Shortly after Thanksgiving we selected a Balsam Fir from the local tree farm down the street. After it was erected and adorned with our antique glass balls and little wooden elves our daughters began to get excited. We then unwraped the old nativity scene and musical silver bells, at which point the girls could not help themselves. While
Stella runs around drumming with the glass candy canes, Gina sits quietly arranging an animal take over in Jesus' crib. Suddenly,
"uh oh" one of the shepherds and the Rudolph silver bell are down. Our shepherd fell hard, he is getting old after all, the poor guy fractured into 6 pieces.
And this is how I find myself in the shop, on a rainy Sunday afternoon in December, gluing busted silver bells and tending to our
unlucky
nativity figurines. Every year around the holidays I am reminded of how much our shop has in common with an old toy shop. Everyone carries an affection for toys regardless of their age and when toys are played with, they break. Those broken toys and the Fiat roadster in the bay next to me, which hasn't run since Carter was in office, are here for the same reasons. This season at the shop toys are everywhere, some for little folks and some for big ones. Happy Holidays.
