The Reason for the Season

So, it turns out that I have a thing for Nativity scenes. I blame my Mom. She collected them and one of the things I remember most about Christmas is getting out all of the Nativities. There's a whole lot of talk about Santa around here, a lot of looking for hidden elves, a lot of writing Christmas lists and so on, so I like having the reminders all around to hopefully, occasionally remind us about the birth of Christ. That doesn't, however, mean that I don't have a little fun with the nativities.

We have a wide variety, ranging from the standard Willow Tree:

to the much loved and MUCH played with, indestructible, Fisher Price:

to the reenactment by Charlie Brown and friends:

to a snowman nativity, complete with chocolate kisses for hats, and cookies as gifts: (Unfortunately, the gingerbread stable was the first casualty of the season and is currently sitting in the pile of Christmas ornaments and decorations in need of super glue repairs.)

to the simplistic:

This is a favorite because the shepherd watches over all sorts of animals like a lion, a goose and a pig, but there isn't a sheep to be found in the set.

This is the smallest one - made to appear like it was carved into a walnut.

We have several others, a Hansen Classic, a quilted advent calendar that the kids fight over every day, a pewter set, a puzzle, and, well you get the idea. I love having them around. I'm always checking out Nativity scenes that I come across. I don't really have space to display them all, all the time, but I am still drawn to them. And to be honest, I've still got my eye on a couple of my Mom's sets, too. I like the reminder and they bring me joy during the Christmas season (and not all Christmas things do,) so I imagine that I will continue to collect and admire them for years to come. And I'm hoping that at least a little bit of the importance of Christmas will rub off on my kids because of them.