Our Nativity Collection

I think being a collector must be genetic (or learned)!  My mom is certainly a collector, of all sorts of things over the years.  She's starting to pare down her collections which is probably good though I've enjoyed many of them and have seemingly inherited some of them too :)  We both love dolls (my mom has wonderful Madame Alexander dolls that range in age), certain dishes (Fiesta, and Depression era white Petalware is my favorite! currently stored away at my mom's), tea towels, etc. - the list could go on, and on!  I also began a collection of nativities during college and am enjoying the opportunity to display them around our house.

Moriah LOVES looking at them, and is happy to find baby Jesus everywhere.  She's really remembering more of the story this year and is most interested in the wise men it seems.  I enjoy talking with her about the Biblical account of Jesus coming into the world as an infant in the midst of surprising circumstances.

While some of these are of a particular series, I wouldn't consider myself a collector of all Willow Tree, or all Jim Shore :)  I like some things, but hope to be a bit more tempered in my collections rather than filling our house with just one thing, haha!  For the sake of simplicity (and space!) I don't plan to add many more nativities to our collection, but I do enjoy each of these.

Here are a few pictures of our nativities...

a musical nativity that plays "Silent Night"

the metal nativity came from my former pastor's wife Julie, it's really neat

the tiny one is also fun for Moriah to play with, though the pieces are easy to lose :)

our Willow Tree nativity stays up all year

this one came from my friend Heather in college

Moriah's Little People nativity is lots of fun... the pieces are all in a basket

this Hallmark tree has large buttons to hold the ornaments which are all nativity pieces

the Little People pieces and nativity ornaments... in and out all day for all sorts of fun!

this one looks like it's in a bowl, and holds two small tea lights that can be lit

Matt gave me this nativity for the wall when we were dating

our sparkling nativity (I don't remember the brand) which is one of my top three favorites

a close up of the angel shows that each piece is covered with the related Scripture

a little Jim Shore set in our bathroom

another small Jim Shore set
(some day my collecting mom has promised me her big Jim Shore nativity, I love the quilted patterns)

a crystal nativity ornament in our bedroom, a wedding gift from my former pastor and his wife