Mommy and Beo by the tree.
Diaper hat!
Kelson made Nikki an Oreo birthday cake!
...Which Beo was more than happy to eat.
The viking eating his pants.
Beowulf the viking chillin' out before our Christmas walk.
We discovered that El Cerrito has its own little Christmas tradition. In 1921 a man named Sundar Shadi immigrated to the US from India. He went to school at UC Berkeley, where he met and married his wife. They settled down in El Cerrito, and in 1950 he decided to celebrate Christmas by creating a couple of paper mache figures for a nativity scene. Every year he added a few more figures, and by the time of his death at age 101 the display was large enough to cover an entire hillside. He was not a Christian, but this one of the ways in which he expressed his love of the community. Today the display is set up every year on an open space up on the hill overlooking the bay.
Tonight, we decided to go on a Christmas lights walk that would end at the nativity display. We hadn't exactly anticipated how far it was up the hill, so it turned out to be quite a trek to Bethlehem! But the scene is really quite charming. In the foreground is an entire pasture of sheep with shepherds, with an illuminated angel bringing them the good news. A little further back are wise men traveling with camels. Then up on the hillside is a bright star hanging over a miniature city of Bethlehem, with the smaller figures of Mary and Joseph trekking towards the city. So actually, there is no baby Jesus yet in this nativity scene! Next to it all is the passage from Luke that talks about the Angel coming down and proclaiming peace and good will to all men. The whole thing is set perfectly on the open hillside.
Next time, though, we'll probably drive.
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