Christmas Crib in Lesotho

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Even if they work in Basutoland (Lesotho), SNJM Sisters celebrate Christmas has it is done at the mother-house. Moreover, in Marie Monica’s letter, we learn :
«Three days before Christmas, I started on the work of preparing the tiny Infant and His manger bed. The poor little waxen baby that came from the Mother House some years ago was sadly dirty; somebody had tried to wash His little face and had removed the coloring of one side in so doing. As a little girl in England, I had a waxen dollie and Mother had taught my little sister and me how to wash it with butter, so as not to spoil it. Accordingly, remembering the lesson of the long ago, I set to work with butter and you should have seen the transformation! The tiny form literally shone and Sister Superior was so pleased. Then out came the new box of Show Card Paint from Canada, and I tinted the small face until it became rosy again, then by means of a stout piece of wire heated in the candle flame, I curled the fair hair until it lay around the head in ringlets. I washed, ironed and starched a wee bit the trousseau of this small person, so that when we took Him over to the manger on Christmas Eve, He was delightful to behold, and I finished the job by putting a lovely rose, out of our garden, at His Head.


The Crib was lovely; Sister Maurice Marie worked at it all morning, and the real evergreen trees behind it, gave the whole a realistic look. The paintings of the sheperds and of the town of Bethlehem are those sent by our Sisters in California; they add much to the Crib. […]»


(Sister M. Monica, in a letter – Basutoland, December 25, 1946)