Nativity

Right wing radio talk show host Heidi Harris has posted her version of the 12 Days of Christmas.




Nativity scenes belong in the home, not in schools. There are also live Nativity scenes in front of churches in the Birmingham area.

Most Nativity scenes are sort of off a bit anyway. The wise men didn't arrive when Jesus was an infant, and certainly not at the same time the shepherd was there with his sheep.

Anyway, we have a collection of Nativity scenes. I started collecting these years ago, and am mainly interested in old traditional types or in artistic interpretations of the "event." Here are
some of our Nativities.

This was the first Nativity scene I owned. I received it as a gift from my brother and sister in law.

That was the brother who often hid baby Jesus from the Nativity that we had in the living room each year when we were growing up, until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day when the baby would appear! When this set arrived back in the 1980's prior to Christmas, Jesus was in the box.

This one we bought at the Mikasa store at Watermark, a store that is no longer there.

Like many of our Nativities, this one came from an estate sale. Why is Mary so often portrayed wearing blue, and Joseph wearing purple and brown?

This piece was created by a local artist (whose name I don't know) from clay.

This is an unusual and modernistic crafted piece. I have no idea who made it.

Very traditional, except this piece is only about 5 inches square and 3 inches tall. The figures are an inch to an inch and a half tall. Mary in blue, Joseph in purple.

This folk art type piece came from Peru (via Ebay).

This is traditional and has the stable created out of bark and moss. We have a couple of these. Mary in blue, Joseph in purple.

A much simpler bark and moss scene. Mary in blue, Joseph in purple and brown.

This tiny Nativity is about 2 inches tall and came from a dollar store. Glitter in biblical times?

These figures were purchased in New Orleans at a flea market type junk store in the Marigny district. I think they survived a fire.

This cast metal set is odd in that the animals are GIANTS.

This was sculpted by my artist friend Phyllis Gibson. Her works on canvas and in clay can be found at several galleries around town. Baby Jesus was missing for a few hours after Phyllis gave me this and I had it on display at the cat clinic. As it turns out, Jesus had been knocked off the shelf and had fallen into the mop bucket. Now we know how those sins got washed away, I guess. These pieces are tiny. The nickel gives you an idea.



These pieces were carved by local furniture maker Bobby Michelson.


We have others, but there just isn't room to display all of them. If parents such as the talk show host (assuming she is a parent) would instruct their kids at home and not depend on the schools to teach them about the birth of Jesus, then we wouldn't need this argument about where the scenes should be displayed.