German Christmas Pyramid

YES, it's a bit early to be posting about Christmas, but anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE celebrating Christmas and the birth of our King.

This morning, on the way home from my Round Top Library board meeting, I stopped at an estate sale just a few miles from home.  I usually hesitate to stop at those because, quite often, it means older couples have passed away or left the lives they once knew--and loved--to live in unfamiliar surroundings.  Rummaging through prized possessions and personal belongings seems intrusive and tugs at my heart.  

Initially, I passed up the drive way--but for some reason--I backed up and drove down the dirt road to some structures nestled among the trees.  The treasures of their lives had been rummaged through by so many before my arrival, and prices were reduced to mere pennies on the dollar.  I didn't need anything, but I walked up and down the aisles creating stories in my mind of what memories those items must have brought to the family.  

Tucked away in a back corner was a broken German Christmas Pyramid.  Because it was broken, it had no value to the estate sale company, and the ladies gave it to me for free.  For those of you who don't know what a Christmas Pyramid is...it is a delicate wooden structure with a decorated pyramidal outer frame, candle holders, and a central carousel with a rotor at the top.  The rotor, driven by warm air from the lit candles, turns the carousel, which is usually decorated with nativity scenes and other Christmas figures (angels and wise men).

Ella and I love reading Christmas stories by the light of the Christmas Pyramid.  Last year, I was hanging an art string on the wall to display Ella's artwork.  When I stepped off the stool, I lost my footing and stepped slap dab on top of the delicate wooden figures.  I was crushed because I had broken something valuable to Ella and me.  Not valuable in a monetary kind of way, but in years of memories and stories told by the firelight of that little wooden carousel.  

As fate would have it, the family had the piece we needed, and we had the piece they missed.  Call it kismet or the proverbial "one man's trash is another man's treasure," but seeing the worth in this broken pyramid, returned its value, to us, exponentially.  With grateful hearts, our pyramid is now restored.  

Reminds me why I love celebrating Jesus so much.  When we're broken, He comes in, scoops up the pieces and puts us back together. 

So much to celebrate!