We have so many gifts around us — family, food, shelter, fellowship. But the best gift of all is the fact that God chose to come to us in the form of a living, real child. He came in poverty, humility and sacrifice. Imagine that!
On this special day of celebration I want to share photos of several nativity sets. But first let me share a beautiful painting that was done by a friend of the family. My father gave this to us, and said that he liked the painting because it (rarely) depicts Joseph holding the child rather than Mary. I loved that observation.
This is a nativity set that my mother painted years ago and gave as a gift to me.
This next one is the creche my family had when I was a child growing up. I always loved it, and was thrilled when my mother passed it on to me.
This is a beautiful little set that I purchased in Germany.
This is one I bought in Ecuador when on a Compassion trip.
I found this little nativity in the Dominican Republic.
This is a rather large set that has real cloth, jewels and wood. It has three large palm trees beside a large stone wall.
This last one that belongs to me is a home-made nativity that my children made with me many years ago.
One of the churches in town had a nativity display this year, showing several beautiful sets that came from different parts of the world. Here are some of the ones I saw at that special display.
The United States:
Navajo:
Rome:
Poland:
Mexico:
Israel:
The Philippines:
Africa:
I believe the rest of the these are from the United States:
This beautiful set comes from Alaska and features real fur, a moose and a polar bear!
Aren’t they beautiful? Which one is your favorite? What does this Christmas Day mean to you?
