My most wonderful neighbor, Margie, is from Munich, Germany. Last year I had the wonderful fortune of traveling with her to Germany and meeting her two sisters who still live there.
This past Christmas, Margie gave my family her nativity. It hadn't been out of it's box since her husband, Stan, passed away 20 years ago. To add to the antiquity of the set, the manger had been hand-made by Herr Dalmyer, the father-in-law of Margie's older sister, Erika. Herr Dalmyer made the manger from wood and twigs he found in the forests of Bavaria.
The beautiful figurines not only came from Herr Dalmyer, but were also purchased by Margie and Stan in the Kris Kringle Markt in Munich over forty years ago.
Margie did the honors of setting up the scene and reminiscing over each piece. Later, she brought over the moss for the floor and set it up all over again.
This morning when Margie came home from church, she told me that the incense in the church today made her think of her mother.
On each January 6th, her mother would chalk the letters C M B over the front door of their apartment and light a small cone of incense in each room. These acts would bless and protect their home for the next year.
C - Casper M - Melchior B - Balthazar
Celebrating Kings Day as the day the three kings arrived in Bethlehem was thus in Margie's Bavarian home.
