With just over a month to Christmas it’s time to start thinking about Christmas decorations. I rarely buy new decorations but jets tend to recycle the same ones in different places or freshened up each year. Usually like Mary Ann I have bowls willed with pinecones as part of my table decorations. This year though I have a brand new Christmas decoration and it will on prominent display. It is a Christmas tableau.
Released by Walker Books The First Noel – A Christmas Carousel by Jan Pienkowski is a delightful work of art.
While closed it looks like a book, it opens out to become a stunning Christmas tableaux. The five sided star shaped carousel, tells the Christmas story from the announcement of the news of a son to be bon to Mary, the trip of Mary and Joseph to Egypt and no room in the inn, the birth of Jesus and the visit of shepherds and then the visit of the wise men. The combination of intricate white cut-outs against red backgrounds and the simple two line text under each cut-out from the King James Version works beautifully.
It is the type of decoration that will become a conversation piece. When I showed it to a couple of members of my family, they loved it and I suspect it will become one of those treasured family heirlooms handed down from one generation to the next. When it is not in use it folds up neatly back to book form when you release the red ribbon. You could store it during the year with the Christmas decorations, or as I have chosen to do simply keep it on the book shelf.
Just one warning I would put it up out of the reach of inquisitive little fingers that might want to touch the paper cut outs as they will not stand up to a lot of harsh treatment but for the centre of this Christmas table or on a mantelpiece it would be a delightful addition.
Why not make it a tradition that every night during Advent or just during the last week leading up to Christmas, Dad or Mum or some other family member reads the few verses as the tableaux is turned?
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