Nativity Sets

As a child I delighted in setting out our Christmas Nativity Set. The colors were rich and the characters full of life. I am sure this memory played in developing my limited collection of Nativity Sets. It is a  blessing to set out the handcrafted pieces given to me by friends and the expensive set my husband splurged to purchase one year for me.

Over the years, these characters have been marred by circumstances. A wooden shepherd bears the marks of a dog teething; Mary's hair became tossed about; the baby's bed disappeared; a mouse nibbled at the cloth to get to the rice weighting the animals, a wiseman's raised hand broke off; my standing glass Joseph broke off at the knees.

As I set out these sets this year, initially I was sad about these defects until I contemplated that this probably makes them more "real". The shepherd fought to defend his flock; Mary looks more like the hospital pictures of a new mom, proud and disheveled; the baby found a home in his parent's arms; the animals required stitching; the wiseman's disfigured hand sent him into scholarly work; broken Joseph now kneels before the King of kings.

Funny thing is that when I returned to my parent's home for a rare holiday visit, I helped unpack the Nativity Set looking for the rich, colorful characters I remembered. They were not there! Though I was assured this was the set we have always had what I was looking at was inexpensive, broken, and falling apart. Maybe I viewed them as a child should-- with wonder. But as an adult, maybe I should realize that these marred pieces are probably more realistic than the Hallmark displays--and still view them with wonder.