Altars are not "pagan," really; just visual reminders to pray for someone, somewhere. Sometimes it's for "whoever is in most need" and other times, it's for someone near and dear to us.

A stuffed, bouncing version of Tigger, a baby lion that can open its eyes and growl, and the famed "Leo", my mascot, occupy a permanent corner in my room, always reminding me to pray for Lori. Now she has been gone since September 13, yet I continue to think of her in the present tense, and hear her voice in my head. I replay the answering machine messages (how can there be only two that escaped getting erased?) just to hear her again. But not too often. Every single time, her familiar voice brings tears to my eyes.

If some oddball toy or trinket in a corner of my room makes me think of you, please know it' means I'm on your side, cheering you on, loving you always, no matter what! (Even when--especially when?--you try to sing.) 🙂 That last bit was for my sister Lori. Every year she'd phone me to sing "Happy Birthday," she who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

Knowing my obsession with toys, and cyborgs, and the idea of Lori getting a titanium kidney and me going full-robot some future day, Lori sent me a Cyborg toy for Christmas a few years ago. When she saw my photo of it, she tried to sing this over the phone:
**Captain America we love you,
Captain America you're grand!
Captain will help anyone a friend or a stranger
Now number one without a gun
he's bypassed the Lone Ranger
He's a do do good who loves apple pie and kisses little babies
He'll guard you against everything from atom bombs to rabies

Not that she got the words right (much less the tune), but here is roughly how it sounds:

Not all my toys are part of an "altar."

Some, I position in weird places just for fun. Like the little toy soldiers I keep in my kitchen (Why? WHY NOT?).

My grandchildren know that toys ARE allowed at their dinner table, which is a kid-sized table and chair set. Curious George might have have to help fight off that hungry T-Rex, after all, and who knows, he might help re-cap some of those markers. Yes, the table "cloth" (er, paper) is decorated by the child.

#Superhero, Super #Heroine

absolutely part of my "altar"

Nativity Scenes

with dinosaurs as wisemen, and Batman as the angel - WHY NOT? Every year, I'd do something different. Sister Lori did not approve. (And yes, I confess, this year I will miss hearing Lori rebuke me for my latest heresies as I decorate the house for Christmas.)

Ok, admit it: we all have toys we love, even as silver-haired old ladies, right?

@mariannewest, I'm wondering now if you've used "altars" or "toys" as your #freewriting prompts. Yes, I could go look. A thousand days, or is it now closer to two thousand days of prompts. Bless you Marianne and all freewritehouse supporters.

I toss out assorted prompts and questions myself, but who takes the bait? I could write whole books about toys and how much I have loved them, especially the movie tie-ins today's kids get to enjoy. That was all before my time. We had no TV series starring Barbie or the knock-off Barbies (which was all I got, but I loved my dime-store dolls).

In childhood I dreamed of having a Barbie-sized "Jesus" doll, with all twelve disciples, and Mary Magdalene, and of course young Mary and Joseph, but I guess I was ahead of my time. Mattel will likely never pick up the Bible Barbie franchise. I haven't looked online to see if anyone else has. But, thanks to Disney's "Prince of Egypt" movie, I now have a Moses doll!!

Toys - as part of an altar? What kind of religion do ya call that? #Mindfulness!