Syler Womack, a long-time Catholic homeschooling mom of five and member of the Keeping It Catholic e-mail List, has become a good friend to many of us. She recently emailed the following letter (reprinted here with her permission) about a treasure she just discovered called Crèchemania.com.
Syler's Letter
I have to tell you about the wonderful new site I found. My post to the fellow who owns it will explain everything, so I won't bore you ahead of time, but please look at the site first, then read my post to the owner, and finally, [about] his post to me. So beautiful.
http://crechemania.com/php/
My post (to crechemania.com):
There is really no way I can tell you how much finding your site meant to me. My son called this morning from Kuwait. He is deploying with the American army to Iraq tomorrow, and will not be home for a year. As when he served in Afghanistan, my first thoughts were, "What about Christmas?" Before he went to Afghanistan, I gave him Baby Jesus from my childhood creche to take with him, but there was no time before he went to Iraq...
Then I remembered the wonderful paper Christmas decorations book I bought at the National Gallery in London 10 years ago. It has never been used, and I determined to send it to him---but I also remembered the pop-up creches we used to see long ago-- I wondered if it were still possible to find them---and I found your site!
My son has had a fascination for creches, and for assembling miniatures, all his life. (As a sophomore at West Point, he actually constructed a model of the battle of Zama, complete with little paper elephants, and a little paper Hannibal and Scipio). Finding your site was literally the answer to a prayer.
I will be able to include one of your wonderful downloadable creches in his letters during Advent, and they will afford him hours of enjoyment---and who can be homesick during Christmas when the most important part of Christmas is right there with him?
Thank you so much, and all of your wonderful members whose hearts are fine and pure enough to appreciate these delicate treasures.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Syler Womack
Syler let us know that Mr. Alexis Xenakis from Crèchemania.com quickly responded, writing her to tell her how moved he felt and how much he appreciated her letter. He also shared with Syler how deeply he appreciated her son Forrest's commitment.
Mr. Xenakis closed his letter by asking Syler if he could create a special creche for Forrest, which would include a dedication to him.
What a lovely thing it is to know that there still remain kind people in the world, willing to take time from their busy lives and do something genuinely nice for another person. It all started with a note of gratitude for someone else's work. How often do we take the time to let family and friends know how much we appreciate them, much less strangers who - in some way - have done something to help or inspire us?
Just an Idea: You might want to do yourself and yours a favor and visit Crèchemania.com, where you can download the most beautiful "paper" creches to print and assemble. (And why we're at it, perhaps we can email Mr. Xenakis and let him know that, thanks to Mrs. Syler Womack, we know of his generous gesture to her son, now on his way to Iraq, and how much we appreciate both of these fine gentlemen.)
