Creches, Nativity Scenes

Both of my nativity scenes, or creches, were purchased at yard sales. One seems to be an old one and has "Italy" on the bottom of each piece. It looks so much like the old one my Mother had when we were young. I got all the pieces for $1.




I got this white ceramic nativity scene for $20. There are some chips on the angel but otherwise all the pieces are like new.




A nativity scene, crèche, or crib, is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene in 1223 (a "living" one staged in a cave near Greccio) intending thereby to cultivate the worship of Christ. The scene's popularity inspired communities throughout Christendom to stage similar pantomimes Within a hundred years every church in Italy was expected to have a nativity scene at Christmastime. Eventually, statues replaced human and animal participants, and static scenes grew to eventually include elaborate and ever more elaborate static exhibitions with wax and ivory figurines garbed in rich fabrics set against intricate landscapes. Charles III, King of the Two Sicilies, collected such elaborate scenes, and his enthusiasm encouraged others to do the same. composed of figurines depicting the infant Jesus resting in a manger, Mary, and Joseph. Other figures in the scene may include angels, shepherds, and animals. The figures may be made of any material, and arranged in a stable or cave. The Magi may also appear, and are sometimes not placed in the scene until the week following Christmas to account for their travel time to the event.

Today you can have one as cheap as you like or as expensive as you can afford. Having one that young children can play with is a great way to teach them the story of the birth of Jesus. The pieces need to be big enough not to pose a choking hazard and need to be sturdy, wood or plastic are good materials, so they can be played with. Tell them the story of Jesus birth as you set up the Creche. Repeat the story letting them handle each of the pieces. Repetition helps children learn the story for themselves.

Here are some nice Nativity Scenes in all different price ranges, sizes and materials.

The Fat Folds Of Christmas

OK, so it's officially the Christmas/holiday shopping season and people are out in full swing. And you know how you get when you're really doing a lot of Christmas shopping. You end up with bags and bags of stuff and not enough hands to hold them. Maybe sometimes you wish that you had another way to hold all of your newly begotten wares. Maybe sometimes you even wish that you didn't have to pay for things at all. And that's when you go back to thinking about how you wish you had another way to hold things that you didn't want to pay for. That's probably when you decide at the time that it's a good idea to attempt to conceal merchandise underneath your breasts (that must have been the size of Canada) and fat rolls as you walk out of an Oklahoma TJ Maxx. Wait. What now?

Correct. Meet a one 28-year old Ailene Brown and a one 37-year old Shmeco Thomas. (I'm guessing that "Shmeco" is pronounced phonetically, since someone clearly neglected to buy a vowel at some point during the naming process. And it would be remiss if I did not point out that Shmeco kind of sounds a little bit like and looks a little bit like the word Shamu. And that this story is about people concealing things underneath their body fat makes it sound all that more whale like!) Behold!

If you're wondering which one is which, Shamu Shmeco is the one that looks like Kenan Thompson from Saturday Night Live.

Now that we all know who's who, let's continue. It would appear that the two aforementioned ladies were shopping at a TJ Maxx in Edmond, Oklahoma. According to The Orlando Sentinel, "...police say they used their bodies to conceal the goods. Edmond police authorities say it was at the Edmond TJ Maxx that loss prevention officers found the duo stuffing items under their belly fat and breasts." Stuffing items. Underneath...their...belly fat and...(I don't know if I can go on without hurling)....breasts. Good Lord, I think I'm going to be sick.

Yep, just tucked a few things away in there for safe keeping, I guess. What the what?! If you're big enough that you can stick things in between your mammoth rolls of fat and have them not fall out or (hopefully) be discovered, how large are you exactly? What is the surface area of your body? What is your getaway car? A Rascal scooter because you're too fat to walk? Seriously now. There has to be more to this story than just this. Are they sure?

Oh, yeah. They're sure. (Whoever those loss prevention folks are, I certainly hope that they get a raise of some sort. I would not have wanted to be a part of this.) According to a one Officer James Hamm, "These two were actually concealing them in areas of their body where excess skin was, under their chest area and armpits." I think I'm going to be sick again. Do you want to know what they were trying to steal? Do you? Really? What if I told you that there were multiple items? Then would you still want to know? I'll wait. Let's say that you do (but don't say I didn't warn you). That's when I'd have to tell you that they tried to steal four pairs of boots, three pairs of jeans, a wallet and some gloves. Wait a minute.

Boots?! They were sticking boots under their boobs?! Boob boots?! Ewww! And did I mention ewww?! What kind of boots? Hiking boots? Those spiky heeled boots that no one I know could ever possibly wear, yet I see them in stores all over the place? What kind of boots? And three pairs of jeans? Look, I've only seen the heads of these ladies, but if this story is any indication of their actual size, those jeans must have been made by Omar the Tentmaker if they were picking them up for themselves. And what's with the wallet? Clearly, they don't have anything to put in it. Was it an impulse steal? At the register that they attempted to bypass?

According to the officer on the video (handily provided below) one of the women actually had three boots concealed underneath her breast and bra. Three boots...two boobs...you do the math! (I don't know what that's supposed to mean. I'm still a little in shock by all of this and usually when numbers get thrown around, there's math involved. My apologies.) Where were the other...five boots?! If you've got hoots big enough for three boots to be stuffed under there, those are some pretty big hoots! Good Lord, woman.

I think that we really need to take a moment to soak in just how many items we are talking about here. Thus, I have prepared this handy visual aid to help with that task. Behold!

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty darn sure that I could not conceal a single shoe anywhere on my body in the fashion that these two ladies did. But somehow, they managed to stuff eight boots in their somehow AND some jeans on top of that! And even once you have the eight boots concealed on your person, you're just getting started! You've still got three pairs of jeans, gloves and a wallet to go! And yes, I realize that the story said that just one of the woman had the three boots concealed underneath her hoots. Where were the other five boots?! Huh?! That means the other chick had the other five stashed about under her folds of...of...skin. Ugh.

People never cease to amaze. Or in this case, they never crease to amaze me. I know, I know. It's a poor play on words. Especially since we're all dealing with the mental image of all of those boots with boob sweat all over them. What? You hadn't thought of that? Well, think of it now because you know that's what happened! Here's to hoping that none of that merchandise was placed back on the shelf and was instead taken out back and burned in some sort of ritual. The video of this story is below. It's pretty much what I've already described, but perhaps you want to hear it for yourself.

RhoDeo 1009 Goldy Rhox 3

Hello, today the 3rd post of the new format; GoldyRhox, classic pop rock , most of the albums i 'll post made many millions for the music industry and a lot of what i intend to post still gets repackaged and remastered decades later, squeezing the last drop of profit out of bands that for the most part have ceased to exist long ago, although sometimes they get lured out of the mothballs to do a big bucks gig or tour. Fact is the music produced back then got released in an environment that wasn't as segmented as later decades..with our current time being totally segmented and i don't talk just in music but everything thats out there, games , the internet that brings everything that has been produced music wise up for grabs..

Now i'm not as naive to post this kinda music for all to see and have deleted, these will be a black box posts, i'm sorry for those on limited bandwidth but for most of you a gamble will get you a quality rip and for the younger visitors, for certain something to confront your parents with (as loud as possible)..don't like it, deleting is just 2 clicks...That said i will try to accomodate somewhat and produce some cryptic info on the artist and or album.

To last weeks 'gamblers's' a leg up, consider the groupmember that left after last weeks GoldyRhox release..He produced this album to the bewilderement of their label and management who thought him unsuitable, despite the considerable succes he had producing the GoldyRhox 1 artist, in the end it was the decisive support of the bands guitarplayer , who btw never sounded better as on this album. It resulted in what many see as a pivotal album in the ungoing career of todays band. The forceful nature of previous succesful albums was transformed into a more trancedental, soulful approach that may have annoyed some of their previous fans but at the same time opened up to new fans, as for sales it did just aswell..but all of a sudden this new path opened up for the band, aswell as a potentially far larger fanbase. This new path would pay out when the follow up album, again with the same producer, achieved double the sales of the already multiple platinum previous albums. This here is a remaster that comes with a link to an excellent bonus album.


Goldy Rhox 03 097mb


PS...all the 58 dead ducky's have been revived.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Not-So-Shocking Willie Nelson Arrest

I haven't got a whole lot today. I did read that Willie Nelson was arrested for (wait for it) possession of marijuana.

::: blink ::: ::: blink :::

Really? Really? Is that what we've come to in our war against drugs? We're arresting Willie freaking Nelson who was, from all accounts, riding on his tour bus when it was pulled over and the evil leaf was subsequently discovered? Really? Look, I know that we can't come to any sort of an agreement about marijuana in this country, but can we at least come to an agreement about Willie Nelson and marijuana in this country?

The man is 77 years old and has been smoking pot since before I was born. Is there anyone out there who heard the news that Willie was arrested and was shocked to learn that it was for possession of pot? Of course there wasn't. You know why? Because Willie Nelson smokes pot. You know it. I know it. We all know it. And I'm not so sure that any of us care that Willie Nelson smokes pot.

Give the guy a break. We can even call it "The Willie Nelson Clause". Under this aptly named clause, there would be certain people who would be exempt from being busted for smoking pot. Willie Nelson....Cheech Marin (Chong, too, if you can find him)....Bob Dylan...Bob Marley...NOT Nick Nolte (because he's a crazy SOB)....And NOT Lindsay Lohan (for the same reason as Nick Nolte and because she needs help)....Woody Harrelson....you get my drift, right? They're not going to hurt anyone and it's almost like we expect them to be doing it, right? Right. So let's just back off of Willie Nelson, shall we?

I will say, however, that I can only wish for a life where I have nothing better to do than pull over Willie Nelson's tour bus and bust a 77-year old man for possession of marijuana. What a life that would be.