Festival of the Nativity 2011

I haven't been blogging much lately (it's been 3 months), but I did feel that this was something worth blogging about. The 'Festival of the Nativity' has become an annual event in our stake. It is absolutely incredible! Many people display the nativities they have collected, and there are live performances going on throughout most of the Festival.

In 2009 I entered a few nativities and also did a special cross-stitch just for the Festival. I also caught the 'nativity' bug and started buying more nativities.

In 2010 I cross-stitched another picture just for the Festival, thus starting a tradition. And right after the Festival I picked up a few more nativities. Sorry - I didn't seem to have any pictures in my computer of these two cross-stitches.

For 2011 I did another cross-stitch picture, although this time I started it much earlier in the year.

(The other two were done at the last minute and I really had to hustle to get them framed in time.) However, I'm not sure if I'm going to do one for 2012. They take a lot of time and are VERY expensive to get framed.

However, this year I ended up buying a lot of nativities right before the Festival. I thought it might be a fun thing to show you pictures of all of the nativities that I had on display.

This is probably the oldest nativity I have and it is VERY tiny. I bought in for the Christmas of 1970 when I was an exchange student in Germany. It is made of plastic and was very cheap, but it holds a lot of memories for me.

Another very tiny nativity was made in Mexico (I think). I was amused that they displayed this in the hand-made section with a note saying that I had made it. I had not, but it was a bit late to correct them.


When I first starting actually collecting nativities, I bought several that are more traditional. This one (I call it the bronze nativity) actually came with two camels, but the other one broke in transit.

This is a typical nativity, but I especially like the sweet expression on Mary's face, and the fact that she is dressed in pink.


This is another fairly traditional nativity.


However, I particularly like the way that Jesus balances on Mary's lap. Trust me, if you joggle the table, he falls right out of her arms!


This very simple nativity was actually a homemaking project in Relief Society. We painted the Holy Family in white. I've always liked this, and other than my cross-stitches, it's one of the few nativities that I can say I helped 'make'.


I was almost embarrassed to put this little nativity jewelry box in the Festival as I bought it at the dollar store. But they were trying to reach their goal of 1000 nativities so I threw it in.


This is one of the nativities that I picked up this year. I call it the 'Sleepy Face' Nativity


I particularly like the little Jesus waving his feet and hands in the air. I think he's more awake than everybody else.


I call this one the 'blue-trim' nativity for obvious reasons.


I made these little felt nativity figures many, many years ago. They always end up in the children's room at the Festival


I didn't make this next nativity, but it was definitely designed for children to play with. In fact, when I went searching to find where all my nativities had been displayed, I found this in the room with the nativities that children could play with.


All the pieces are cloth stuffed with cotton. I love the stable, and feel it's almost a pity to put the other figures in front of it.


In general I don't care for the nativity pieces that have 'scenes' painted on them, but for some reason I really took a fancy to this 'Mediterranean' set.


Maybe it's because the decorations on their robes isn't too professional looking.




I have to admit to a partiality for 'tableau' scenes. Some of them are very simple and connected with a special word - like this one that a friend at work gave me.


This one-piece display is children acting out the nativity scene.


Joseph's staff had broken off, but Bill managed to glue it back on. I particularly like the three kings giggling among themselves.


There is a special kind of display that is called a Triptych (sp?) It is a diorama that that can be folded in or out. I only have one of them, and this is what it looks like when it's folded up.


This is what is opens out to display.



I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the magnificent Thomas Kinkade Christmas tree that we have, but I do have this Bethlehem tableau.


Not only does it play music, but the stable can light up.


Speaking of lit-up displays, this is one that I bought this year that arrived the day before the Festival! I had to rush it over to get it included.


It's a three-piece set, and really looks spectacular in the dark.



In the same shipment (also rushed over at the last minute) was one that I think is going to be one of my favorites, even if it doesn't light up.


It looks almost as good from the back as it does from the front.


Another nativity that I bought that arrived shortly before the Festival features a lovely ivy pattern on everybody. Unfortunately, Joseph's hand holding the lantern had broken off. It has since been reattached, but at the time I took this picture I just tried to turn him so you wouldn't notice it too much.


Here's a close-up so you can see the pattern better. Our computer guru really like this one - he said it 'stood out' among the others.


Most of the nativities I have are displays of figures, but I really liked this Irish linen wall hanging.


There have been a lot of nativities made depicting various animals. I actually don't like most of them, but I fell in love with the penguins. The original purchase only included the Holy Family, but we have since added another penguin, a seal and a walrus.


I have to admit that I fell in love with the one-piece nativity with mice. This was also one of my newer purchases.


There are some very pretty ornaments with nativity scenes in them too. Here is one from Ireland. (I think the green gives it away).


I love this little Eskimo ornament where Jesus is lying on a dog sled!


Actually, I really like ethnic nativities. For example, here is a larger Eskimo nativity.


Nativities are very popular in South America. Here is a vivid green set from down South.


A lot of the South American nativities depict halos on the holy family with rays coming out of their heads. Here is one with a gold and maroon theme.


I got this little Peruvian nativity two years ago. I love the looks on the faces of Mary and Joseph.


This summer we stopped at the San Miguel mission in California, and I bought this little Bethlehem scene - designed to be lit from within with candles. It is also from Peru.


From the southwest of our country comes this charming Indian nativity.


However, one of my all-time favorite nativities is this one of the Indians from the more northern part of the United States.


This is one of my favorite Mary's, and the wolf and papoose are just darling.


With my Irish heritage, I couldn't resist getting this Irish nativity. It is actually two separate figures, but when arranged properly, they just meld together. Notice how their flowing robes seem to form a heart.


For some reason, I really like the nativities featuring African or African-American figures. The first one I bought was this exquisite set from Lennox.


The Bradford exchange has another very nice set, but you receive it in separate shipments. I think that is supposed to make you think that it is costing you less since you're paying it in bits and pieces. The first set was Mary, Joseph and Jesus.


The angel and the king came in the second shipment. Jesus can be displayed in his little bed, or Mary can hold him in her arms.


I actually received the third shipment just a couple of days before the Festival, but I had already taken most of my pictures. Mentally add in another king, a shepherd blowing his horn, and a sheep at his feet, and you'll have the collection up to where it is now.

However, the one nativity that generated the most comment and admiration was this one that I also picked up this year.

In case you can't tell, that is genuine yarn for their hair.

The Festival fell a bit short of their goal of 1000 nativities - they actually had 989 on display. However, I am ashamed to admit that since the Festival ended I have bought another 11 or 12 nativities (another addiction?) so next year they should meet their goal. Maybe when they all have arrived, I'll do another blog to show them off.

In the meantime - Merry Christmas!

Submarined

Well, I have to admit total and complete failure this week (other than keeping up with my scripture reading). Oh, and I went to the Temple for the first time in years, so maybe that offsets my sins in a small way.

Tim has wheedled and begged and coaxed to get me to play computer games with him, and I finally gave in. And that broke the dam. For the past few days, I have gotten practically nothing done because I have been defending my house from Zombies, tracking down murderers in 'Clue', and searching for words in 'Flipwords'.

I am getting a cute little timer that looks like an apple, and I am going to limit myself to an hour of games a day. At least, I am going to try to.

I should have blogged this on Monday, but I was too busy playing games.

Reflections on Collections

I am a collector - always have been. Ditto with my husband. Over the years (both single and together) we have managed to amass many collections - and have the chaos to prove it. Finding room for them has always been a problem. Keeping track of them has been an even bigger problem. I can't count the hours we have spent cataloging, indexing, moving, displaying and boxing these collections.

Some collections are partially practical. I do actually read many of the thousands of books we have in our library. We do actually watch many of the thousands of DVDs and Video Tapes that we have. Bill actually reads a lot of the thousands of comics that he has. I actually cross-stitch some of the thousands of patterns that I have.


Other collections are merely decorative and are meant to be displayed - like Bill's dragon collection, and my nativity collection, and his knick-knack collection, and my Star Wars and Star Trek collection. Of course, most of them are in boxes as we don't have room to show them all off.

Some collections are merely for the pleasure of the person who collects them. My grandmother collected bottles of water from rivers, lakes and oceans all over the world. The water looked pretty much the same in such small quantities, but they were all labeled and brought back many memories to her. When my brother and I were growing up, every time we went on vacation we would collect the various bottle caps that we found as so many of them were different from the ones we had at home. (My mother later threw them all away as they were unhygienic!)

If you are actively collecting anything, you have to keep track of what you have or you will end up with a lot of duplicates. Needless to say this has happened to me on many occasions. I have often bought books and movies that we already had. I have bought cross-stitch patterns that were already in my 'collection'. I'm sure Bill has occasionally bought comics that he already had as well.

Some collections are worth a lot of money (at least on paper). I not only have the vast stamp collection that I amassed while growing up; I inherited my mother's even vaster collection when she died. Many people collected beanie babies as it appeared they would be very valuable in later years. Ditto with Cabbage Patch Dolls. Ditto with National Geographic magazines. I don't think any of these are worth nearly as much as the collectors thought they would be.

Even collections that ARE worth something (like baseball cards, or comic books) need a very specialized buyer to extract even a fraction of what they are theoretically worth. That requires large amounts of time and energy to find these people and do a lot of negotiating. Of course, there are always places you can sell these things - like eBay or Craig's list - but you have to do it piecemeal and that requires large amounts of time and energy. Not to mention figuring out shipping charges and what to do if the auction winner doesn't pay you, etc.

If there is one thing that has become increasingly obvious to me is that collections are for the person who is collecting them - not posterity. My mother collected horses when she was a child, and frogs when she was an adult. I seem to have inherited the bulk of both collections. As I wade through box after box of these things, there are very few that I would want to keep for myself. They had a lot of value for HER and I'm sure she enjoyed looking at them, but they don't mean anything to ME.

This is particularly true of all the South American artifacts that I have found in these boxes. She was fascinated by their ancient art and sculptures, and we have lots of crudely fashioned clay statues and pots that she saved. I don't think they are worth very much (and my uncle corroborates this) but I hate to just throw them away. I also hate to give them to Deseret or Good Will as I have a gut feeling that many of them would just be tossed. But I don't want to keep them either. We have enough stuff of our own!


When my mother knew that she would be gone soon, she started labeling a lot of frogs with the names of the people who had given them to her - with the thought that they could be given back. It was a nice idea, and some people did want a frog or two back for a memory of her - but the majority did not particularly want their frogs back. And there were a whole lot of frogs that she must have bought herself, because I seem to have inherited a whole pond full of them!

So here are my words of wisdom regarding collections. Collect those things that you, yourself, enjoy using or looking at. If you have something that has particular historical significance (like the crude elephant that looks like a dying cow that you made with your own hands in Kindergarten) - label it! Make sure that anybody who has to root through your belongings after your death will realize what a priceless treasure this is. And be sure to label it clearly. "Made by Aunt Doddy" may be lost on future generations. "Hand-painted by Dorothy Fay Crum" will not (at least not if they have any of their genealogy).

If you are tired of collecting something, and it no longer has any value to you - GET RID OF IT! Don't leave it for your poor suffering children to sift through after you are gone. You might think you are leaving them a great treasure, but it's more likely to be a great headache.

And have I followed all this advice I have given? NOT! However, I'm working on it. The problem is, as fast I as get rid of part of one collection, I am collecting part of another. I really feel sorry for my kids.