Toys

Earl Martin made this nativity as a toy. Each figure has a magnet on the bottom that corresponds to a magnet glued to the board.

Peanuts characters in a pageant

Playmobile Set

This is more of a teaching tool (cube) than a toy. There are arrows to show which way to open it up. By the time the child gets through the sequence the entire story is told.

Wooden child's set-the stable falls apart at the drop of a hat

Veggie Tale nativity

A folding nativity books for children. We have several nativity story books in our collection but most are in storage since we do not have room to display many of our nativities.

Flight to Egypt

Lladro style ceramic Flight to Egypt

Flight to Egypt ornament

Ceramic Indian Flight to Egypt made by Carole

4 1/2" bas relief plate

This dry brushed ceramic Flight to Egypt was Carole's 2016 Anne Arundel County Fair entry. It got Reserved Champion in its category. Carole enters ceramics in the fair each year to show the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. Note that this is the same mold as the white one below.

Glazed ceramic made by Carole. Our family's nickname for it is "Feet of the Jeep" because that is what it sounded like when French nurse first saw it.

An ornament found this year at a Dollar General. Each year it is harder and harder to find nativities among the Christmas decorations. We saw this at the Dollar General in Lothian but did not buy it because the lines were so long and we didn't have time to wait. It was the only one on the rack. We were in there a couple weeks later and I checked the display. It was pretty depleted the first time and even more this second time. This ornament was still there.

Nativities in words

Using the words associated with Christmas has become a popular means of depicting nativity. It is very appropriate since Jesus is the Word who became flesh.

From Oriental Trading

Early Karis artwork

Jesus plaque that hangs over our bedroom door

Jesus came to save people from their sins.  JOY or Jesus, Others, You it is a great symbol that the O is the largest letter and the Holy Family is in the center of it. Jesus' mission to the "others'.

Hand painted wooden ornaments

This is a set of ornaments that spell Jesus

A free standing ornament.

A wall plaque

The C makes a nice setting for the nativity scene.

Ornament

It is interesting how different artists choose the letter to place the nativity scene. 

Baby Jesus sleeps in the O.

It's hard to see but these say Silent Night and Savior

Joy ornament

Wooden Joy letters a gift from Bonnie and Gary

Noel means Christmas in French. No better way to place the Holy Family -right in the middle of Christmas just where He should be.

Noel ornament

Our faith is based on Jesus. Small free standing ornament

Unusual materials

Nativities have been made in a large variety of materials. There is no end to the creative ways depict their visualization of the nativity. We especially like when common materials are recycled.

Producing sculpture from ashes is a complicated process. We have two sets made from the ashes of Mt St

Helens.. The one on the left is made up of 4 pieces that are in the front of the shelf. These pieces were given to us by Eugene and Colleen Slade when they visited us one Christmas. The free standing one in the back (right side) was brought back to us from Seattle by Bill and Ebbie. They were sure we had never seen anything like it.

Nativity painted on sawed off wooden spoon. Bought at 2015 Kutztown Folklife Festival.

Painted on a sand dollar

Corn husk nativity of unknown origin

Found at a 2015 Christmas bazaar

We found this mother of pearl nativity in the Christmas store in Oakland, MD. The angel in the foreground was not part of the original set but an ornament that we had acquired somewhere else.

We met Ann Neal at South River High School's 2014 Christmas bazaar. Among many other things she had Christmas ornaments made out of milkweed pods. Carole asked her if she could paint one with a nativity. She did and then brought it to our house so she could see our collection.

Corn husk nativity a gift from Ginger and Mark that they found in Austria when they were on a Danube River cruise.

One of Kathy's young friends made these rubberband figures for me. The high tension on the rubberbands makes they break easily. Note the shepherd is missing an arm. They are encased in a display box.

Gift from Bonnie and Gary. Made from bread dough.

Found the two colored beeswax ornaments at a Kutztown Folklife Festival. I do not know anything about the process that was used.

Our first beeswax ornament. Made locally by an Anne Arundel bee keeper. He sells honey and beeswax products at the Farmers Market on Riva Road in Annapolis.

Made from small flower pots. Found at a church bazaar.

Pewter nativity mounted on a geode slice

Popsicle stick and clothespin nativity

Commemorative coin

We found this egg nativity in a flea market in Branson, MO