The Hand-Carved Creche
In about 1955, I bought a Christmas edition of the Better Homes and Garden magazine. There were lots of good Christmas crafty stuff in it, but the one that caught my eye was the patterns for the hand-carved Creche set. I took the magazine over to my Aunt Gail’s, at that time she was living in the old Zuckerman cookhouse and keeping books for the farm, to see what she thought of the plans for the Creche. Gail was the family artist. In those days she dabbled in drawing, pottery, and a bit of wood carving, and later became a serious artist and received her MFA at the University of Oregon. She looked at me askance, knowing that I had no aptitude for artistic endeavors, though I had an immense amount of enthusiasm. She finally said that she would help Ric and I get started on the Creche.
About a year or so ago, I finally threw out the magazine and the hand drawn patterns that we had made some 60 years ago. However, I know that we had drawn plans for Mary, Joseph, the Babe, and the three Kings. Gail also drew up the plans for the cow, donkey and a sheep. The three of us cut out the rough form for Mary, Joseph and the Babe from chunks of 2”x4” pine. Gail roughed out the Babe and Mary and began teaching me about wood carving. She did most of the carving for the Babe, and some on the Mary figure, and then turned those two over to me to finish – with her guidance. Ric did most of the work on Joseph and a King, and later shepherds, sheep, an more donkeys. Gail made the largest and most difficult of the Kings, as well as the cow and the first donkey. Those three pieces are still my favorites, even though in the last 65 years, the donkey has lost a leg and the cows horns are in disrepair. Ric later added another donkey and some sheep, as well as a couple of shepherds.
For the last 65 years, the hand-carved Creche has been a central piece of our holiday decoration. Not all of the pieces have Gail’s craftsmanship and some are a bit wobbly and have to be secured to stand upright, but Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without bring out that hand-carved wooden Creche. Gail was never as impressed with the Creche as I was. It just didn’t meet her artistic standards, but for me the memories of carving the set with my Aunt Gail are priceless.
As I bring out the Creche and place it front and center, I fondly remember those days when we carved the Creche.
~ ~ ~© Joan G. Hill, Roots'n'Leaves Publications
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