I’ve collected nativity scenes since I was a teenager. I especially like the folksy artsy ones. That is how I “deck the halls” for Christmas. I clear all tables and cabinet surfaces, store away items in bins for the season, and start resurfacing with nativities from all over the world. Each set emotes treasured vignettes of specific times and places. My mind tumbles down memory lanes paying attention to noteworthy stop signs along the way!
Some sets have been gifts and others have been personal indulgences. I like having access to little hands my Fisher Price nativity which I bought fifteen years ago when my first grandchild was born. All five grandchildren still enjoy the little people and use them to engage in acting out the Christmas story.
One of my favorite memories was when this same first grandchild was two or three years old included me in a pantomime. She had me lay down on the couch and instructed me to close my eyes and fold my arms across my chest. I did as I was told because that’s what grandmas do! She proceeded to drape my body in kitchen towels and covered my head and her head with additional towels. She told me I was Joseph and needed to be still and go to sleep. Then she perched herself on the coffee table, raised her hands over her head while proclaiming, “Hark Hark don’t be afraid! I’m an angel and your girlfriend is gonna have a baby!”
As you can imagine, her tale continued and to say that I had a hard time remaining in somber character without busting out laughing is an understatement!
How does your Christmas dressed up house say, “Welcome! Come in and play for a while?”
When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”