December 16, 2004
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Margarine lids and nativity scenes
What do a margarine lid and a nativity scene have in common? A great deal for me actually. Here‘s why:
I was seven years old and Christmas was approaching. My mother and I had gone shopping at the local five and dime. At one point she picked up a cut glass sugar bowl and remarked about how pretty she thought it was. She put it back on the shelf and resumed shopping. After she had walked away I picked it up and looked at the price. As I remember, it was slightly over a dollar (this was 1965). I realized that I had enough allowance money saved to buy it and determined that I would get it for her for Christmas. The next day I got on my bicycle, peddled back to the store, and made the purchase
I remember being very proud on Christmas morning when she opened it and seemed so happy to be receiving the gift. She filled it with sugar and sat it prominently on the kitchen table. Later that morning I was horsing around in the kitchen with some new Christmas toy and I accidentally knocked the sugar bowl off of the table. It hit the tile floor and the lid shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.
I was scared to death. First of all, I was afraid that my mom would be horribly disappointed and secondly I was afraid of my father coming in the room and seeing the mess. Let’s just say that when he lost his temper, things could become unpleasant. My mom came in and saw what had happened. She quickly got a broom and got the mess cleaned up. She sat the bowl back on the table and went to the refrigerator and took the lid off of a tub of margarine. She cleaned it off and put it on the sugar bowl and it was a perfect fit. She then took me in her arms and explained that people are always more important than things and that she loved me very much.
Later that year my mom began to have some problems and was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. The cut glass sugar bowl with the plastic margarine lid remained on our kitchen table for many years. It was there through grade school. It was there on my sixteenth birthday. It was there when I came home from college for visits. It was there when I brought my new-born son home for the first time. It was there long after the disease had robbed her of her ability to express her love. I never sat at that kitchen table and looked at that margarine lid that I didn’t feel loved. A simple margarine lid has become a very strong symbol of unconditional love for me.
During the Christmas season we see nativity scenes everywhere, from the small and elegant to the ostentatious and tacky. However they may look, they are symbols of the ultimate expression of unconditional love. In a world like the one we live in today, it’s good to see these symbols and remember that we are truly loved.
Merry Christmas.
Comments (5)
That story makes me tear up whenever I think of it. I have those little scraps that were supposed to mean nothing but meant everything to me too. I need to pour some of the talent I got from my father into them to make them as cherished and wrapped in words as you have.
Merry Christmas Dad, can’t wait to see you.
Your entry put a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat….beatiful story…thanks for sharing.
Beautiful! It definitely puts things into perspective. Have a great holiday!
Thanks for the story — it made me cry.
I wonder where the sugar bowl is now?
I wonder if God planned the margarine lid as a reminder of love for you, something you’d see all your life, that wouldn’t get obsolete. Something like bread and wine, that would be an everyday part of life, that is transformed into a reminder of sacrificial unconditional love.
I’m thankful for your mother’s sake that she could give you a token of her love that could speak for her when she could no longer speak to you of her love. A blessing for you, a blessing for her that I hope she’ll remember in heaven.
Thanks for all the kind comments.