Family Creche 2024

 If you've been around, you know how this goes. All but the two sheep and the dog are from my mother's childhood. 1910s. The mentioned three are from my childhood.

And the RULE is that it has to be different every time I set it up. Well, I had a different plan from this, but it didn't work with the lights, which I'd already purchased. So... I did this. I also put it in a different place this year.

Trivia fact you may never need to use at all. The red berries I used on last year's set-up were Japanese barberry. The mice loved them. I sure didn't know they would eat them. But, they had pretty well destroyed the effect before Christmas last year. Tangential fact. I bought new, snappier traps a couple of weeks ago, and we may currently have the indoor mouse population in check.

You may also know that I have a hard time doing anything in moderation. So, this evening I made another pie. It's in the oven. We just seem to forget how good PIE is. You'll see it tomorrow.

In other news: I edited and put some outdoor stuff away while I was getting out the sand for the nativity set. I made yogurt and the pie.

See Nativity Scene 2023 SeeAll posts with this nativity set

The Nativity Scene Goes Up

The last time I set up the nativity scene was 2019, when I did a rather modern interpretation. That's in a link below. It looked better in real life. The camera picked up the lights much too brightly.

Anyway, this year, I ordered some glittery stuff from Amazon for the backdrop. When it arrived, it wasn't AT ALL what I thought I was getting, and I didn't like it enough to change my mind and use it. So I had to start over from square one. What I ended up with isn't too inspired, but I kept adding stuff, and it's going to have to do.

As always, I'll remind you that these pieces come from my mother's childhood, in the 1910s. And, that the "rule" (made by me as a child, but it's a RULE) is that it has to be different every time it's set up.

In other news: I wasn't feeling very motivated, but I edited, I worked on the pantry, and I did this.

See 2019 Nativity See all posts featuring our nativity set

It's Starting Way Early Here

 
It's pretty strange to be getting ready for Christmas, but if this is the time of year Steve can come home, and he's willing to do so, we'll do holiday!

Last year, the traditional creche did not get set up. That's because of my silly rule that it has to be different every time. Since I made that rule up when I was a child, you'd think I could break it, right? Nope. Has to be different. Sometimes it's natural-looking, sometimes it's modern. I got an idea...



For potentially new readers, these pieces came from my mother's childhood. This view backs out to show the whole set.


For some other displays with these pieces follow the link at the bottom.

This also happened. Stay tuned.



Please note that at least the center of the room is clean, and most of the rest is at least covered up!

In other news: I worked on North Country Quest in the morning, and on formatting both books in the afternoon. Tomorrow I have a vendor show, so probably nothing else will get done.

See Family Creche

The Nativity Scene This Year

 
I wish I could tell you that I get this set up every year, but I think it didn't happen last year. Holidays have become sort of lost in my mind.

The "rule" is: it has to be set up differently every year. Who made this rule? Me, when I was about seven. Can I just break the rule because it's more work? a silly rule? not a rule at all? Nope.

Sometimes I go traditional, sometimes modern or thought provoking or...



Just as a reminder for new readers, the figures (all except the dog and sheep) come from my mother's childhood. I do love displaying this for all the layers of meaning it represents.

Link below will bring up other arrangements of these same pieces.

That's about the extent of my holiday decorating participation.

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The (Almost) Yearly Nativity Project

 

I have to confess that I haven't upheld this tradition properly for all of the 60ish years it's been my responsibility.

Since I was a child I've tried to set up the creche, the nativity scene, differently every year. Last year... well... it was still up from 2011. But, at least it was displayed, right?

This year, I combined a number of natural items, embellished with a little gold paint. Most of these were picked up in Alabama, including the Red Buckeye seeds.

I added a few sweetgum burs from cousin Jean's yard too. Then I threw in some feathers because it needed a taller vertical element, and made some "flowers" with acorns and peppercorns. There are also beechnuts, Sycamore burs, some Ohio Buckeyes, and some plain old Horsechestnuts.



The lights don't show very well in the picture, but they look like a starry sky behind the blue cloth backdrop. I think that turned out really well.

Maybe next year I'll have to go modern again. The one thing that never changes is the figures. They came from my mother's childhood.

	See My Yearly Nativity Project See The Nativity Scene Goes Up
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My Yearly Nativity Project

Om is the Christmas decorator around here. I have one duty that I still enjoy, and that is setting up the creche, the nativity scene. If you recall this explanation from last year, sorry, but new readers need to be clued in.

During my childhood it became a tradition to display the nativity set differently every year. I haven't succeeded every year. There have been some very minimalist displays on occasion, but I'm confident to say that I've come up with at least 45 different backdrops. There aren't pictures of most of them.

This set of figurines is very special to me because it comes from my mother's childhood (except for the dog and sheep).

So here's what I did this year (at NO cost, since I had some things left from last year): arrange floral foam and fasten it together.



Then I started gluing twigs and seed pods around the edges.



Along the back edges I glued those weird ailanthus stems.



This process took several days because I could only glue a few of those tall stalks on at one time and hold them in place until the glue dried. Then, I forgot to take pics of some intermediate steps, they they are pretty straightforward. When it was dry I took the whole thing outside and spray-painted it white.

Then I tacked up a green backdrop, and stuck in some winterberry in front of the white sprays. Then I added the figures and sprinkled it all with fake snow.



Well, it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but it's yet another format! This last picture didn't turn out the way I wanted either, but I can't spend any more time fooling with it, so here's a somewhat lame interpretation of "the Glory of the Lord shone round about them," with today's late afternoon sun.



The next three days will be an exercise in the reason for this blog. I have to do the paper route. We know how much I like that. My assignment is- and I do choose to accept it- to find something to be happy about each of those days.

I just felt the need to remind you that I feel crabby and miserable at least as often as you do. But this blog is about finding the good thing in each day, even if it's only one thing.

I'm off to bed to try to sleep. Alarm goes off at 3 am.

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The Nativity Scene Goes Up

 



One of the perks of being an only child was that I never had to share a lot of experiences. Every year, on Thanksgiving, it was traditional that I would set up the Nativity Scene. And somehow, it also got to be a tradition that I would never do it the same way twice.

I tried to keep that up as an adult, but haven't always managed to pull it off. However, this year, I was feeling a little creative. The result is shown above. I'm going to lower the angels just a little so they are tied into the scene better. Link at the bottom if you want to see how I made it.




Here is last year's. As you can see, it went very natural looking. Let me tell you about the figurines. They are very special to me. All but the dog and sheep (which were purchased when I was a child), come from my mother's childhood. They were dimestore pieces back then (she was born in 1909). They are plaster, and some are in very bad condition. It's hard to get the animals to stand on their own. But I've never seen any others like them.




Sometimes I was feeling modern, as I was this year. One year, I was feeling socially responsible. This was in 1977, and I made a collage backdrop of Jesus' face surrounded by pictures of really bad things that happen to people. The verse is John 1:5 "And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."



Here's another really traditional one, from 1979, where I made a paper mache cave to hold the pieces. The stable was quite possibly a cave, so this may be the most realistic one I've done.

Just a sampler. I don't think I have pictures of all of them, and we don't have any from my childhood. How are you displaying yours, if you celebrate the Christian tradition?

See Make a String-Craft Backdrop for a Holiday Display