TIS THE SEASON

Christmas will be here soon. I'm sitting here pondering all the wonderful things that come with Christmas. The anticipation of wonderful times with family and friends. The work and preparation of decorating for Christmas. The sights and sounds of Christmas that we enjoy in the present and that return us to the past. But most of all I think of the amazing gift of Christ and how the simple birth in a barn and the baby laid in a manger shapes our lives today. I find it only fitting that my first Christmas post should be of the nativity.


I fell in love with this style of nativity scene as a child. My parents had one and I remember them adding pieces to it. Ours had a hole in the back that you could stick one small light through to light up the manger. To my small self the very star of Bethlehem was shinning into that little manger. The first Christmas after getting married my dear mother surprised me with the beginnings of my own Fontanini nativity set.

Why this particular picture is so dear to me is that my darling granddaughter had set the nativity up for me. I had left her to her work and forgot about it. The next morning I checked it out and was floored by her perspective. See normally I would place them where you could see the fronts of each of the characters but she had placed them with all eyes on Jesus. Just where they should be.



This nativity is really special because it belongs to and was hand made,barn and all, by the Toth's. A dear family who I am proud to say are friends of ours and are some amazingly creative and talented people.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season.