Murano Chandelier & Epiphany Creche Sagas

After we came back from Carnevale in 2003, Dennis decided he wanted a Murano chandelier for the front bedroom, which he had just painted yellow and had a Venetian theme. 

Finally getting the chandelier turned out to be a real saga. At one point we had boxes with parts of five separate chandeliers in our dining room, and only half of our own special order. The Italians may produce splendid glass, but their shipping practices leave much room for improvement. Even so— after sorting out the shipping mess and forwarding the various chandeliers to their proper recipients – Dennis managed to persuade the manufacturer to give us one of the extra chandeliers, which replaced the damaged Czech copy of a Waterford in our dining room. 

The multi-color-flowered chandelier in the yellow bedroom is really extravagant, even after we simplified it. Where we ordered clear glass with a little gold for the basic frame, the original had had pink and blue! It was based on a famous chandelier in Ca’ Rezonico, one of Dennis' favorite palazzos.

In his final year Dennis had looked at hand carved Italian crèches online. Last Advent, in his memory, I ordered the complete set he had wanted. (The picture above is the Holy Family-- only a small part of the complete set.) It was shipped from Munich. 

I guess Bavarians aren’t much better than Italians. Half of my order went to a very nice man in Maryland, who telephoned me after getting my name and address from the packing list. I had him ship it Express-Mail and received the crèche in time for Epiphany. At least I was reimbursed from the supplier in Munich. Have a happy Epiphany!