Before the Season closes, here are a few of the nativity scenes we have acquired over the years. I realized as I was looking at the photos that very few of them include Wise Men, who traditionally arrived on this day. The scene at right was my mother's, and it has three traditional kings and two camels, in addition to two shepherds, a sheep, a dog, a donkey, a cow, Joseph, Mary and the Babe. And an angel. All in a paperboard stable, purchased from Woolworths' in the 1950s. Mother added one or two new figures every year. The price marked on the base of the Big Shepherd, the last she bought, is 29 cents.
The first nativity that Norm and I acquired is this one, the three original figures of Joseph, Mary and the Child were found at a Christmas Market in the Rocky Mountains at Georgetown, Colorado, in 1970. I've had to touch up the gilt paint twice. We found the simple wood shelter at another shop, I don't remember where. Various small angels and other figures sometimes stop in for a look.
The three Mikasa china pieces were given to me by a church friend who collects nativities and has several hundred of them. The angels also came from women friends in my CWF circle.
We found this simple cedar cutout at a store in Kansas where we often stop on our trips to see the family out West. It is made by a man in Hays who has a developmental disability.
Years ago Norm found these clay figures from Peru at an interna- tional shop in St. Louis that specializes in fairly traded items from the developing world. These are just a few--more will be featured next year.Just as the wise men returned home by another road than the one they came, we are getting ready to put away the outward signs of Christmas and look for the path we are supposed to travel this year. Thanks to our many friends and all of our family who have made the journey with us this far.
2 comments:
I love your nativities. The one from Peru is so colorful. The wooden one reminds me of one my sister in lay Dalene's father made. It fits together like a puzzle and then you push the pieces in or out to make them more visible. I have three pieces that I think came from one my parents had when I was a child. The Christ child in the manger has 19 cents stamped on the bottom.
Kay
Danny's niece Sammi loves nativity scenes. She calls them God's World and her most prized gift for her 5th birthday (in August) was her very own god's world that is now sitting on a shelf above her bed with her other "breakable treasures." She would love your god's worlds too.
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