There are twelve nativities in this house right now.
Yeah, y’all read that right…twelve.
No shame in my baby Jesus loving game.
There are three in the dining room.
This one came in the boxes of things that were my mother’s. This isn’t the nativity I remember growing up…but I love that it’s lighted.
I found this one in Mexico in 2002. I was obsessed with finding the perfect dark skinned people nativity after coming across one that was damaged. For many years this was my most precious nativity.
I loved the shape of this one I found on clearance after Christmas at Target the first year I lived here in this house. I don’t normally like the ones that are just the Holy Family and the wise men, but something about these spoke to me. I like that Mary is holding the baby. What I don’t like is that they have sparkles on them that get absolutely everywhere!
In our front room, there are two.
I found this one a couple weeks ago with Thing 2. The same day we found those adorable little Dr Seuss looking trees. I like that Mary is holding the baby while riding the donkey…they had to get back home somehow, right?
This beautiful set belonged to YBW’s mom, it was made for her by very dear friends. Last year, little D decide my ponies needed to go see the baby Jesus too. He and his folks came for dinner and we were just hanging out and little D was pretty quiet. So I asked him what he was doing, he came running into the room and grabbed my hand and said, “I show you!”
There are four in the living room at the back of the house.
On the mantle above the fireplace, there is my precious Willow Tree nativity. A gift from YBW two Christmases ago. I love that Mary is holding the baby.
On the unit that holds all the media equipment there are three small nativities.
This one was made in Ecuador. I found it in this precious little fair trade shop in Old Town called Scatter Seeds.
Snow in Jerusalem? I think not. But I love this nativity snow globe. I’m not sure where it came from, I think it was already in YBW’s collection when I got here. Joseph looks like he’s one of the Bee Gees…but that’s OK.
I found little one made of drift wood at the beach I think…or maybe at World Market? I don’t know…I just know it spoke to the beachcomber and nativity lover in me.
Downstairs, there are three.
I remember this Mary and the baby from when I was a little girl. She’s made of some sort of stiffened fabric painted gold. She’s not weighted, so getting her to stand up properly takes a bit of finagling. She’s all that’s left of a set…I remember one of the wise men was the last to bite the dust. It’s very precious to me to have this one. Just the baby and his mother. And it belonged to my mother.
I bought this one at Target to take to the classroom. Only I never did. And that’s OK too.
Made of wood and painted in bright colors, I find it very sweet. I especially love that there are two angels in this set.
And lastly, this creche was a gift from my mom the first Christmas I was married. (about 175 years ago) I had an accident with it one day, years ago. As I removed the creche from the box, the small box of people and animals fell to the brick hearth and shattered Mary into a zillion pieces. I sat and cried. She had the most serene face.
Desperate, I bought a replacement set, they’re not as lovely as the original, but the baby needed a momma.
When I began writing this post, I reported the number of nativities to YBW. Together, we wondered when there might ever be too many nativities in our house. He decided that the number wouldn’t matter. That we’d have too many when we ran out of places to put them and began putting them in the bathrooms. That’s when we’d have too many.
This amused me. It’s so very YBW…but actually, I think he’s right!
Soon I’ll head to the Cathedral to see the creche exhibit and be surrounded by even more baby Jesuses!
Oh, Christmas! It’s truly the most wonderful time of the year!
therobynbirdsnest 