Presentation presentation

(Amy:)
Moira includes her presentation for the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple during Christmas, but Anne and I waited until Feb 2, the day it is celebrated in the liturgical year. We weren't able to make the figures together because of time constraints, but were able to slip away to go to Hobby Lobby together and bounce some ideas off of each other, which is so helpful! Here's a rundown of the above photo...

The prophetess Anna is on the right, made the same way as Mary and Elizabeth in the Advent presentations. Anne had the idea of making her look older by having some cottonball hair peeking out from under her veil.

I based Simeon off of the figurine from Faith Expressions (click on "figurines" and then on one of the images...eventually you will find the set for the Presentation in the Temple. As an aside, they have excellent ideas for creating "environments" as well). My Simeon was looking a bit Mother-Teresa-ish until I added the cottonball mustache and beard. I thought it turned out rather well, until ds-4 commented, "That's a REALLY nice Simeon...why does he have a cottonball on his face?" :)

To the left of Simeon is Mary, made identical to the Mary used in the Advent presentations. We found the "baby" wooden figures for Jesus at Hobby Lobby, and Anne swaddled them up in some gray felt. He is glued on to Mary.

Joseph was made just like the prophets Isaiah and Micah from Advent but I added a head covering to distinguish him a bit.

The turtle doves are from Hobby Lobby and we found them in the section with the miniature doll house furniture. My husband Justin is the mastermind behind the birdcage. The base is some tongue depressors glued together and then cut into a circle. Two of the wire arches are semi-circles, the other four pieces just meet at the top and are all superglued together. He notched the edges of the base so the wires fit in snugly, then superglued them for an extra hold. So far it has stayed together.Justin also cut out the Temple prop from a cardboard box using Moira's pattern. I have not managed to paint it yet...hopefully by next February. :)

I was really encouraged after presenting this to ds and dd. Ds especially had some thoughtful reflections, and even pulled out the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity materials and staged one big "play" for Justin and me, narrated and acted out in chronological order.

I hope Anne won't mind me ending this post with a request for prayers for her and her family after just learning on Friday that they have lost the baby she was carrying. I'm sure they would appreciate them.