Story of the Nativities

I pulled out some of my Christmas decorations this weekend, and as always, my favorite part is setting up the nativities. I have collected a few over the years and thought I would share them with you.

This is my very first nativity (and first Christmas decoration for that matter). John's mom gave it to us during our first year of marriage to help start our holiday collection. After 12 years of marriage, our decorations have grown, but I will always treasure this first one we received.

My sweet sister, Christy gave me this one after her trip to BYU-Jerusalem. It came with an Israeli card for my birthday (which I still have and read every time I pull out the nativity). She wrapped all of the figurines with their newspaper as well. I thought it was so cool that I have kept them wrapped in the same newspaper all of these years.

Our dear friends gave this nativity to us one year, only it didn't come in one piece. Ten days before Christmas, a small shepherd appeared on our doorstep with no note attached. I remember thinking it was a bit unusual, as I had no idea it was part of a set. The next night, a wise man appeared. Each night after that a piece of the nativity appeared on our doorstep until the last night when baby Jesus arrived with our friends finally in tow.

This is the last nativity added to my collection a couple of years ago when I made this nativity under the tutelage of my sister-in-law, Marian. She created one for our parents, and I fell in love with it, so had to make one for myself. The box took a slight spill yesterday as I was pulling it out, so John lovingly epoxied up the cracks since I don't want to make another one! Too many hot glue gun burns the first time around.

I love the holiday season and am looking forward to this Friday when we'll go pick up our tree. I hope you are all having a joyous season as well and enjoy reflecting on our Savior's birth.