Dear friends! The Catalog of Good Deeds team starts a new series of personal stories devoted to the Feast of the Nativity. Our brothers and sisters are going to share with you some of their brightest Christmas memories from their childhood and explain how that influenced their own perception of this Great Feast.
You can also tell us about your own memories. Join us on Facebook to learn more.
My childhood was filled with Christmas. My mom was an
animation artist and director who made a series of Christmastide stories, i.e.,
Christmas-themed cartoons for each day of the Christmastide. Each cartoon was
ten minutes long, and it took nine months of work of an entire team of artists
and six months of preparations. It looked like magic: the puppets
that I had held in my own hands—the flat puppets cut out of colored film—suddenly came alive and started moving around. The
magic was in
the puppeteers’ hands: the director deliberately avoided
using computer graphics to make
homogeneous filling
and to calculate movements of the characters. She preferred meticulous manual work where each detail mattered. All she needed was several
layers of glass, puppets,
and thin tweezers.
A careful shift—two frames—another
movement—two more frames.
24 frames per second—a week of work
to produce several seconds
of the cartoon. People are
waiting for Christmas miracles but apparently, you can make miracles with your own hands, frame by frame.
I remember the unusual feeling of a hot summer outdoors and Christmas inside the room at the same
time. It was
always Christmas in
the studio.
I would explore
different aspects
of Christmas every year. I was impressed
by the Lord’s humble birth in the cave, described in the poem Christmas
by Sasha Cherny. I was left thinking about mercy, tenderness, and the genuinely Christian understanding of eternal life
shown in The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. I was excited
by voluntary self-sacrifice of Lady Godiva from Coventry, and then watched a
typical story that happened in our times on Christmas Eve… Gradually, I came to
realize how great and all-embracing Christmas is. We simply have to stop and think… until we are finally
able to see Jesus behind the Christmas Tree, the gifts, and the first star of
the Christmas Eve.
By Sister Maria (Mironenko),
a content manager, a member of The Catalog of Good Deeds team
More stories will come! Join our group on Facebook to share your childhood memories about Christmas with others and get a chance to receive one of our handmade gifts.
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