Christmas Presents - Part Three

For a while, in my early twenties, I lived with my parents who had moved to California to help take care of my father's mother.

While I was there Mom and I got into ceramics. Mom went on to learn about pouring slip, glazing, firing and eventually learned about porcelain. It wasn't long before she got her own kiln and was making dolls. While I was there I enjoyed painting fired ceramic ware. One of the things I painted was a nativity set.

I can't remember when I got the Star Trek dolls, but I had four of them. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and Scotty. (I swear, these two things are related.)

When I was twenty-five or so I moved back to the islands and lived on St. John in a tiny A-frame we had on our property. One year my best friend and I made a stable to display the nativity set. It had everything: sacks of grain, bales of hay, a ladder to the loft, rolls of rope, a pitch fork, a hoe, a table with cups and many other things.

It seemed obvious.


Every year we put the dolls in the loft. I still have the nativity set, with all the things we made, but the stable is gone. As for the dolls...tropical weather ate them up. This is the only picture I have that proves the Enterprise went gone back in time to witness a profound moment in history.

Mama Make Your Johnny Cake - by Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights - a traditional Christmas song. If you'd like to learn more about quelbe music, it's history and the traditional instruments used, click here.