The first no "L"

One of our most treasured Christmas decorations is a set of angels that used to belong to L's grandmother. She had many grandchildren (26, to be exact), so to have anything of hers is an honor, and especially these angels, which were a favorite of L's dad as a child.

There are four angels, and they each hold a letter of NOEL. However, when they came to us, the angel from the "L" was missing, and we did the best we could to display it, but most of the time it ended up looking like there was no "L" in "Noel." Really, I can't make this up.

Each year, as we unpacked our Christmas decorations, I was a little sad that we didn't have an angel for our "L." But, what we did have was the original packaging. So finally, last year, I made it my mission to locate L's angel (bet you didn't think I had another pun, did you?).

I scoured eBay and Craigslist and the rest of the Internet. I found quite a few sets of these angels, despite their age (60+ years), which was remarkable. But I kept getting in touch with people too late or losing auction bids. Finally, I found someone who only had an "E" and an "L." Sold! (Come "L" or high water.)

You'll see in the picture that our "L" is a bit smaller than the others, but he still matches perfectly. A major upgrade from the previous version nonetheless.

You'll also see in the picture that the tradition with the angels is to display them a bit nontraditionally.