The Reason

For our wedding, David gave me a beautiful hand made Santa Claus. It was an old style Father Christmas with a hand sculpted face, wool clothing, and intricate details. I fell in love. That was the first of a very large collection of Santa figurines. One Christmas, I realized that I had many Santas in my house, but I only had one nativity set. That started me thinking about what Christmas was really about and whether my house reflected the true meaning of Christmas.

That year I stopped collecting Santas and started collecting Nativities. I love setting them out each Christmas. They help me remember that Christmas is only special because of Jesus Christ, and his love for each one of us. Jesus is the reason for the season. I have a variety of Nativity sets. Some are valuable, others are sentimental, but all are special to me. I hope you enjoy viewing them.

When you're done, you can check out more nativities in the Nativity Parade over at crapivemade.com




This is a beautiful Gorham Crystal Nativity. This was the first really nice nativity that David bought for me. The angels aren't part of the set, but I like how the mother of pearl looks with the crystal.



I carved this nativity out of a goose egg. At one point I was really into egg carving and made many for assorted family members. They are extremely fragile, and as far as I know, this is one of only two that still survive. This one is less intricate than most of my other eggs. I got tired of hearing that yet another egg was broken, and decided to try for a more sturdy design. When we moved this summer, I wrapped it in a huge ball of toilet paper, put it in a hard case filled with peanuts, and watched over it personally during the drive. No moving van for this puppy. My efforts paid off, and it's still in one piece.




This is the back of the same egg.



This is a puzzle nativity set. This is actually a replacement of the original. Many years ago my uncle made sets for my mom, sister and I. We spent the whole Christmas holiday painting our sets very elaborately. I loved mine. Then one year I loaned it to a friend, who forgot to give it back, and then moved away. Oops. So, I borrowed my mom's, took a pattern off of it, and cut out another with the scroll saw. Unfortunately, I've never gotten around to finishing the paint on this new set. I'm sure I'll get to it eventually.



I made this set from felt at a church craft activity. Well, I started it there, but didn't finish it until much later. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it. I especially love the camel and the sheep.



This is just a cheap set that I bought at an after Christmas sale, but the figures are really quite pretty. I like the angel.



This set was a gift from my good friend Sue.



I love this snowman nativity because of how I got it. The first year that I decided I wanted to start collecting nativity sets, we were very poor. We decided to only buy presents for the kids, and not for each other. Then David, sweet man that he is, saw this nativity set at the dollar store and decided to splurge. Each figure was a dollar, so the whole set was $7. It was my second nativity set.



This maybe isn't technically a nativity set, but I love it. It is my favorite Christmas picture. I love how sweet the family looks, and how loving Mary and Joseph look. It was given to us by David's dad.



This is one of my two favorite nativities. It is made from a shoe box, clothes pins and fabric scraps. The gifts of the Wise Men are made from candy wrappers. My daughter, Mariasha made it as a gift for me without any help when she was about 11 years old.



This is the first nativity I ever owned. I made it at a church craft night the year I got married.



This snow globe was a gift from my son, Kallai. I love the simplicity of the figures.



I purchased this one so the kids would have a nativity they could touch without getting in trouble.


This set was purchased for me by my daughter Mariasha, using money she earned from her first job as a teenager. It was quite expensive, but she assured me that she got a good employee discount. This is one of the most beautiful nativities that I own. I love the graceful lines and simplicity of it.



This is a favorite of mine because it is so unusual. The figures stand about two feet tall and are made from painted sheet metal.



This nativity is from Jerusalem and is carved from olive wood.



It's fun to see all the different types of nativities that are out there. This nativity was hand carved in Ecuador, and was given to us by David's mom while she served a church mission there.



This one is Japanese, though I don't think it was actually created in Japan. I love the strange animals. The sheep look like little amoebas, and the large animals look like cow/sheep/camel/elephant mixes. I have yet to figure out who all the people are. There seem to be several children, maybe shepherd boys?



Here is another nativity that was a gift from one of my children.



This beautiful stained glass nativity was passed down to David from his Grandma Marge



This nativity is a music box that one of my children gave to me as a Christmas present.



David's dad gave us this nativity, a Thomas Kincade music box nativity. It is beautiful.



All of these nativities were given to me at various times by my children. They love adding to my collection.



This is the other of my two favorite sets. My daughter, Taliah made it for me out of clay as a school project when she was in second or third grade. My favorite part is the angel. She is the figure on the right with her wings outstretched and her mouth open, singing. You can't see it in the picture, but baby Jesus is grinning from ear to ear.



This metal nativity is a favorite of mine. I usually leave it out all year. I love how elegant the shape of it is.



I made this nativity at a church craft night. Made of glass block and stickers, I think it's cute.



This is a Fontanini Nativity set from Italy. It was a birthday gift from David. I think the bagpipe player is hilarious. Did they even have bagpipes in Bethlehem?



David and I found this nativity in Puerto Rico. Apparently, there is a festival and parade celebrating the three wise men on January 6 every year in Puerto Rico. The pictures are etched into thin metal sheets and then painted.

Well that's it, 30 nativity sets, if you count the magnetic one on the fridge. I can't wait to see if I get a new one this year. Have a great Christmas!