I have thought of that plastic white church with the steeple many times through the years from childhood to where I am now. I have looked for it too.
One of the reasons I love to wander through thrift stores is to discover things that link me to my past. I have looked - but I have never found any church at all.
So I quit looking.
Last month, I headed off one morning to clean the library, and after I finished, decided to pop in next door to the recycle place and have a look around. I haven't been frequenting this establishment as much as I used to. The times I have been there, there has been nothing of interest to me, and I am trying to curb the appetite of the collector who lives within me.
But just the same, it had been awhile, so I stopped in. There was nothing of interest, I could see that right away, but I kept going further until I came to the area at the back where all the dishes and things are.
And my heart stopped - I swear it did.
There sitting on the bench was a plastic white church, very similar to my memories. Not quite the same, but close enough to bring tears to my eyes, and a flutter to my heart. I swear, I felt like an idiot, standing there staring at this old decoration with tears running down my face. It had a wind up mechanism on the back, that didn't work and it also had a place to insert a bulb, much like my angel. The steeple wasn't a pointy one, but more square, like an English cathedral, and it was yellowed, probably from the lightbulb that shone through it lighting the church up.
Basically it was a wreck, and I could totally see why someone had gotten rid of it. I had no business taking it home - but I couldn't leave it there - it was the only church I had ever come across.
I spent the rest of that day taking it all apart. I removed the music box, and found it just needed some tightening and a little bit of adjusting... It played "Silent Night" for me, once I got it going.
The socket for the light bulb was crushed, so I removed it. I had a battery-operated mini light set that I had picked up at the dollar store last year still in the package. I wound the lights tight and pushed them through the hole left by the removed socket. The battery pack for the light set was slim enough to sit comfortably under the church.
I had my plastic white church after all these years...
Click the link below to hear and see the little video of my now restored Little White Church.
The bells you hear in the background of the video are Chip ringing the bells on one of his toys - he loves the music box!
Dale, that is just so NEAT!
ReplyDelete