A musical grand slam of a Christmas

 It was a strong year for collectibles in the Matty household. Toys for sure, but I also got back into baseball memorabilia, mostly cards. It was one of my nephews who suggested that they belonged in my Nativity as well. A solid idea.

Starting off from the left, perhaps I should say leading off, is a card of Bob Allison. He was a Washington Senator, which is enough for me to collect the card. But more importantly to me, he founded the  Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center. He did not have Friedreich's ataxia, but he did have an ataxia. That's good enough for me. He was also a pretty solid ball player. 

I read a book recently called the Soul of Baseball. It is about Buck O'Neil, a former Negro leagues player and so much more. That convinced me to find the ball under Bob’s card, so that I would have something related to Buck. I won't pretend to be as optimistic and kind-hearted as he was, but I think I'd like to be.

Rounding out the baseball part of the Nativity is Orioles outfielder Al Bumbry's autograph. This is not new. It’s from my childhood. I have several. You see Al was my favorite player. He was not that great statistics-wise, although he was the 1973 Rookie of the Year. But he could do it all  as far as I was concerned. He had speed, he could hit home runs,  he was a good outfielder, and he served in Vietnam.

As far as what this trio would do for the Nativity: I guess maybe they'd be there to teach Jesus how to play the greatest game of all. They also have bats, so they wouldn't be bad defenders if needed.

Next, we come to the new toys. It the Electric Mayhem from the Muppet Show. At least some of them. Lips, the mumbling horn player, is not available in this set, and Animal was too expensive. But the other four — Floyd, Janice, Zoot (sitting on the windowsill) and Dr. Teeth — are here and we have stand-in drummer. 

Since she lived next door, we decorated her Christmas tree every year. The little drummer boy (to the left of Bob Allison) was the source of more than one argument, as to who got to hang him on the tree. He came to live with me when Gram died, and I have to say he looks more like a drum major than a little drummer boy, but I'm sure he will be up to the task of laying down the rhythm for the Mayhem, who would provide entertainment and soothing lullabies. 

Baby Groot (in the corner) is either a symbol of how much I am loved or how sick I was over the summer. Maybe both. The niece I live with gave it to my sister to bring to my hospital room when I had sepsis. She had made it for me a while ago. It was a huge hit. One of the hospital people took its photo because he was so enamored with it. Groot is just for me.

Santa and the Big Three wrap things up this year. 

Merry Christmas.