A Christmas (Related) Story

My auntie had a Nativity set. 

During non-Christmas time, she kept it on the top of the wall unit in their living room. Once, in the summertime, I visited her (I think I was about 5 then). The aunt told me not to touch the Nativity set figurines. Being made of holy communion-type wafers, they were fragile. 

I was too little to see what exactly was up there on the furniture. The aunt's remark made me curious, though. When nobody else was in the room, I took a chair, climbed up, and aahhhh! There they were! Jesus looked so good to me! So good that I ate him. The figurine was a bit dusty, but tasted really good! Baby Jesus was the smallest of them all so I thought little damage was done. 

When my aunt found out that Jesus had disappeared from the crib, she knew it was me. Well, the lady was very displeased, to say the least. My thought then was - auntie should not have told me about the wafer figures. Did I feel guilty? Not really. However, I was ashamed I ate Jesus. 

Dear Aunt, God bless your soul.

Photo: from Nativity display at Holy Ghost Lutheran Church

 

About Certain Coupon

Not long ago, I posted an entry in "My Polish Alphabet" related to the letter "S," which was about my Stepfather.
I reminded myself of a little story from the 80s.

Then, Stepfather P. got a special coupon for a color TV set. Since mom and he had already got such a TV set, P. decided the new one would be for me.

FYK - in the 80s, shopping (especially buying appliances) in Poland was not such an easy and obvious thing to do as it is nowadays. Few of those items were available in stores daily, and you were never sure when the next delivery would be. Ordering such an article in advance in a store was not possible.

Nevertheless, the coupon was valid on one Saturday only in a particular store, which was in a nearby city. Since P's name was on the coupon, he and I went to get the TV together. At the spot, it appeared there were more people like us, willing to buy that TV set model with a coupon. We (literally) stood in a line for four hours. Sitting and waiting in the car was not an option there.

Finally, we got the TV set, packed it in the car, brought it home, and placed it in my room. The TV worked for 20+ years.

Stepfather P. - the 80s