Over here at Adam's Ale, Father V has posted a primer on the proper way to set up a nativity set. I honestly had no idea there was a special way to do it, but I have seen references to how to do it several places online this year. I've heard about leaving the baby Jesus out of the manger before. Mine is one whole piece so he cannot be removed. In fact the one pictured is not the one that came with the set. The original baby Jesus (also a blond) broke. Both his hands broke off. I guess the last year I put it up, I found another one to replace him, I was surprised that I had two baby Jesus'. So, I used the replacement. Next year, I think I'll use my mom's old set. It belonged to her aunt who bought it piece by piece. there are price tags on some of the pieces. It looks a bit like a Fontanini set but obviously isn't. It's the one I remember most as a child and so I'd like to use it as mine in the future.
I still am not sure if my set would meet all the criteria in the post... it's not a fancy nor particularly special set. I got it at Costco and it really doesn't have much sentimental value to me, other than it was the first set I ever owned. I like the nacimiento I keep up every day so much better. I will cherish it for years to come.
It's the first year I've put up that set in a long time. I would do it faithfully every year about the time I put up the tree, then I got lazier and would wait till Christmas Eve to put it up and then I stopped. I put it up this year on Christmas Day. I still like the tradition of waiting to put it up till Christmas Day and probably always will. I don't make my camel and my Magi journey across the room. It seems a bit too odd to me. I suppose I could wait till the 6th to put them up, but often I take everything down around that time, so, they go up a the same time as the rest of the set.
My dad made the stable for me and I always use fresh greens to dress it up. I have a fake tree so those are the only green things I bring into the house and it adds to the season a bit. I almost grabbed my mom's accessories for her nativity set this year. Hers are more suited to Bethlehem-- with palm trees and desert type accessories. But there is cedar in the middle east so I'm not too far off with the juniper. I think next year, I'll look for some rough tan cloth, I actually saw something at a hobby store that would have worked better than the white cloth.
Hat tip to Father Daren at Servant and Steward for the link to the post about the nativity sets.
Anyway... this is the eve of the Solemnity of the Blessed Mother. I really don't do New Year's. The best one was four year's ago when I met Michal. The year after that the sewer backed up into my house, which was good, so I wasn't here crying about Michal not being part of my life anymore. I can't recall the two since then.
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