The real reason for Christmas, the birth of Jesus, our Lord
and Savior, has always been very important to us. Up until 1991 our Christmas
decorations were a mix of secular and sacred. They did not include Santa Claus.
Our desire was to glorify Christ and His attributes and not Santa.
When I
was the Activity Director of Sacred Heart Home in Hyattsville, Maryland, i
established an annual one day activity: a display of nativities. i asked the
nuns and other department heads to bring in their nativities so they could be
displayed all together in the residents’ dining room. At that time we only had
two nativity sets: our original and a white ceramic set that Harold had given
us. He had commissioned a birth cousin, Lois Harrison, to make it for us. I had
always wanted a white ceramic set.
Then,
we began looking out for nativities at yard sales, flea markets, and stores
(especially after Christmas clearance sales). I also watched out for directions
for making nativities out of all kinds of materials. In the past my specialties
were “treasures from trash” and plastic canvas needlepoint. About the same time
I began taking ceramics classes at the South County Recreation Center. And,
people started giving us nativities- they said it made it easy for them to buy
for us.
The collection
grew slowly at first and then it mushroomed. Today we have 731 sets. A set can
be one piece or multiple pieces. It has to include Mary, Joseph, and Jesus or
feature the three kings. We do not include cards. Our smallest set is a thimble
that came from the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Our largest set is a
lit lawn set with a 48” high figure.
We display
most of our nativities from thanksgiving until the end of January.
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